Nikkei, citing unnamed sources, reported that BHP Billiton has notified major Japanese steelmakers that from April it wants to replace quarterly pricing of metallurgical coal with monthly pricing.

Nikkei said BHP requested prices be set monthly for most of the coking coal that Japanese companies buy, with explanations about price levels, calculation methods and other details expected to be provided later.

As per report, while BHPB wants to benefit from higher prices for steel making coal steelmakers oppose the switch, fearing frequent price changes would make production costs more volatile.

(Sourced from Bloomberg and Nikkei)