Bad weather in China and other countries and increasing demand for coal to generate power are likely to push coal prices, already outrunning crude oil and natural gas, to a new high, Moming Zhou at MarketWatch reports. From MarketWatch.com:
Coal, whose price surge has already outrun those of crude oil and natural gas, is generating an even louder buzz as a rash of bad weather has reduced its production globally.
Citigroup earlier this week raised its forecast for thermal coal, saying it now expects prices for the benchmark product to double this year as blizzards in China, power outages in South Africa, and floods in Queensland cut into global output. Meanwhile, demand for coal keeps rising as the world’s electricity use expands.
The recent run-up in fuel prices means higher costs for consumers and industries heavily dependent on electricity. In China, which gets most of its electricity from coal, smaller metals manufacturers could go out of business due to higher electricity prices, analysts said. At the same time, higher traditional energy prices are likely to push China and other countries to pursue alternative energies to heavily-polluting coal.
