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Strategies & Market Trends : Ride the Tiger with CD -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rocket Red who wrote (119607)	6/21/2008 10:01:28 PM
From: E. Charters	Respond to of 312654

Indian Coal of 5000 Kcal is now $72/mtonne **************************************** "CHENNAI: They call it black gold and its price is on the rise, true to its name. Relentless buying by energy starved countries, is pushing up the prices of coal in the global markets. More specifically, the price of Indonesian coal has shot up from around $53 a tonne in May 2007 to $121 now, thereby reflecting an increase of a whopping 128% in a year. According to Argus Coalindo Indonesian Coal Index report, the price of Indonesian 6500 KCAL is $121.41 a tonne, while 5800 KCAL is $93.26 and 5000 KCAL is $ 72.86. In simple terms, cement industry uses 6300 KCAL and 6500 KCAL grade coal while power plants use lower grade coal, while steel plants use coking coal. Indian companies are on overdrive to acquire coal assets in Indonesia. When you don't get the desired quantity and quality in India, it is but natural to look at other markets. Indonesia has been a traditional first port of call for Indian coal buyers. Even there due renewed Indian interest, cost of coal mines are on the rise. Every big industrial group wants to own coal mine there, a CEO who is looking for coal mines for acquisition told The Times of India. With this as the backdrop, a cement manufacturer said it was not fair on the government's part to seek companies to hold prices. (c) 2008 The Times of India. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved." ***************************************************** This article is from April 2008 about PRB low BTU coal. One has to burn a lot more of it to make a BTU than say, Appalachian coal. ***************************************** "Meanwhile, Central Appalachian coal, a benchmark grade that's widely used by power plants, has jumped from around $40 a ton in early 2007 to almost $90 a ton now. Coal from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana, which has about three-quarters the heat content of Central Appalachian coal, jumped from less than $10 a ton to almost $15 a ton over the same time period. Utilities must burn more Powder River Basin coal to generate an equivalent amount of energy, and it must travel east by rail, which adds significantly to its final cost. Utilities such as Columbus, Ohio-based American Electric Power Co., for instance, mostly burn Appalachian coal in their eastern plants, but rely on cheaper Powder River Basin coal in the west. Some American Electric plants are designed to burn only the types of coal they're near. Facing such steep price increases, utilities nationwide are raising rates and are likely to push for even more dramatic increases in electric rates in the coming months."