Tonight:
9°c
...But BHP slashes 58% off the coal bill
10.06.09
Coal prices have tumbled by more than half — but only back to where they were in 2007.
Australian mining giant BHP Billiton today said it has agreed to slash the price it charges steelmakers for coal by 58%. Demand for steel, particularly from builders and carmakers, has plummeted in the face of recession.
However, the prices now being charged are roughly back to where they were before the 2008 commodities bubble when the price of coal and a host of metals followed up the unsustainable spike in the oil price.
Global production and consumption of coal have more than doubled in the last decade. China accounts for 85% of the growth in consumption, using 43% of the world's output.
