December 4th is the miner’s day. However, it is not a happy day. All this because of falling coal prices. On November 28th, in Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerpia ports, a ton cost USD 70.5. On July 1st, this was USD 236.
“Coke coal producers will be in the worst situation because steel plants have limited capacity and demand has dropped. Coke coal prices worldwide have fallen 30-40 percent”, Marek Sciazko, the director of Coal Chemical Processing Institute said.
JSW is EU’s biggest producer of coke coal. The management promises an anti-crisis program but it has high costs, caused by, among others, recent wage raises forced by trade unions. In addition, it needs billions of zloty to keep present capacity. KW and KHW coal producers will also be adversely affected.
“We don’t know how much coal will be exported in 2009. Last year, coal mines promised us 10.5m tons of coal but we got only 7m tons”, Piotr Koziol, the CEO of Weglokoks, Poland’s biggest coal exporter said.
Joanna Strzelec-Lobodzinska, deputy minister of economy, admits that this
year imports will exceed exports for the first time in history.