Swings in the price of coking coal is forcing a rethink of the industry's long-standing quarterly contract pricing system
The price of coking coal dropped on Monday with the industry benchmark price tracked by the Steel Index down 1.1% to $146.20 a tonne as supply returns to normal levels following tropical storms in Australia in March, reports Mining News.
The steelmaking raw material is now trading more than $160 a tonne below its mid-April peak when the price of Australia free-on-board premium hard coking coal jumped to highest since the second quarter of 2011.
That price spike was also the result of flooding in Queensland that saw quarterly contract prices negotiated at an all time high of $330.
