Premium hard coking coal prices broke through 660 dollars a tonne in mid-March 2022, the highest on record, as the war in Ukraine and heavy rain in Australia squeezed supply. Wood Mackenzie put the peak at around 670 dollars a tonne. The monthly average price of Australian premium hard coking coal reached 590 dollars a tonne in March, far above the 478 dollars recorded in April once the panic eased. The surge was driven by fears that Russian coal exports would be cut off, by La Nina rains flooding mines in Queensland, and by strong steel demand in India and China. Indian steelmakers, who import most of their coking coal, asked the government to intervene, warning that the price spike was adding thousands of rupees to the cost of every tonne of steel. The record did not last long, but it showed how quickly a raw material market could seize up when war and weather hit at once.
Source: The Hindu BusinessLine — https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/markets/commodities/steel-industry-seeks-govt-intervention-to-check-coking-coal-price/article65520030.ece/amp/
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