Prices Dip to Five-Year Low on Weak Demand
- German industrial orders fell 5.7 percent in Aug
- Large stockpiles in Western Europe
Thermal coal prices fell to a five-year low on Monday, under pressure from weaker demand and large stockpiles.
German industrial orders fell 5.7 percent in August, the largest drop since 2009, with the subdued euro zone economy expected to drag on energy demand in the region.
"Even without the German data the sentiment is still bearish," a trader at a utilities company said.
"I believe that the stockpiles are so healthy in Western Europe that it will take all the winter - and probably a cold winter - to consume them."
European API2 2015 coal futures prices traded at $73.05 a tonne on Monday, down 20 cents since their last close and almost 50 percent lower than their last peak in spring 2011.
The trader said prices could remain around $70 until demand picked up, but that with large European stockpiles, this was unlikely to happen soon.
Online platform GlobalCOAL did not report any physical trade from South Africa's Richards Bay terminal for delivery in November. This was also the case for European coal cargoes for delivery in October to Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Antwerp (ARA).
Traders said they would monitor the resumption of coal exports by Colombian Natural Resources (CNR), to see what volumes they would ship, after the government helped broker a deal for its use of Drummond's Caribbean Sea port.
CNR suspended exports from its port in Colombia at the end of last year because its loading procedures did not meet environmental standards that came into force at the start of 2014.
(Reporting by Sarah McFarlane; Editing by Pravin Char)
