Gloucester secures 100pc price increases for coal

The West Australian

Collier Gloucester Coal says it has renegotiated coking coal contracts with Asian buyers, moving to quarterly pricing and achieving a 100 per cent increase in prices.

Gloucester said the new prices were "the second highest" that the miner has ever achieved for its coking coal.

"The new coking coal prices represent the second highest price ever achieved for our coking coal, and is an excellent outcome," Gloucester Coal chief executive officer Barry Tudor said in a statement.

"The price confirms the high value customers place on Gloucester's coking coal properties and the continued strong demand from both existing and new customers in Asia."

Mr Tudor said Gloucester had rapidly advanced exploration and the expansion of high-value coking coal.

The increase in prices mean that Gloucester achieved a price of in excess of $US180 per tonne for their semi-hard coking coal, compared to above $US90 last year.

Patersons Securities analyst Andrew Harrington said it was a good result that showed the price difference between the price of premium coking coal and Gloucester's lesser-quality semi-hard coking coal was reducing.

"Last year, semi-hard coking coal was sold at about a 25 per cent discount, and now it is about a 10 per cent discount," Mr Harrington said.

"Coal is in hot demand at the moment."

The coal prices are a strong rebound from 2009, after commodity prices dived during global financial crisis, but less than the figures in 2008 when it sold for more than $US300 per tonne.

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