Adjusting to a new metallurgical coal pricing system: Quarterly contract price round-up Q2 2017

Quarterly hard coking coal contracts signed for Q2 2017 represent the start of a new era: life without bilateral price negotiations. The change has undoubtedly been disruptive, and there remains uncertainty over how price negotiations, and price formation, will develop over time. At this stage the impacts seem to be most keenly felt amongst small and mid-sized companies, that relied on the certainty provided by the industry's price-makers. Time will tell whether there are any real winners or losers, or whether the long-term effect is limited to just more complicated accounting. But in the short term there have been some observable impacts that are making life difficult, especially for the trade's price-takers. In this insight, we take a look at some of them.