Market overview from globalCoal for April 04

Coal values headed south today in the physical and paper markets, while oil posted a range bound performance. On the physical side, Jun DES Rotterdam tonnes were offered down to $99.75/t - down from $101/t best offered yesterday. May Richards Bay tonnes were best bid at $103.50/t - 50 cents lower than yesterday. Cal 13 paper contracts lost around $0.10-0.15/t across all three main hubs. Oil had moved mainly sideways by the end of the day, with front month Brent crude off $0.13/bbl to sit at $125.30/bbl near close of play.

Several offers were made by Indian market participants for Indo origin coal; 5800 gar ~$91/mt, 5000 GAR ~$ 72/mt , 4200 GAR ~$ 45/mt and 53-51 GAD ~$ 44/mt. Buyers were apparently in no hurry to revert with firm buying interest. The fate of May/June RB cargoes is likely to be decided at COB today by the world's largest custom smelter, as traders slug it out to get the award. There is a chance that this end-user may settle for an off-spec RB cargo if price aspirations are not achieved for std. RB1. (*)