Barclays Capital said that coal derivatives settled against prices at Richards Bay, South Africa, the continent’s biggest facility for shipping the fuel, have fallen because Asian buyers prefer Indonesian supplies.

According to a composite figure compiled by Bloomberg, the contracts for June have declined 3.8% in the week to yesterday to USD 118.55 a tonne. Prices are little changed in the last 12 months and peaked at USD 125.20 during the period.

Sudakshina Unnikrishnan an analyst with Barclays in London wrote that “Both Chinese and Indian buyers are favoring lower-cost Indonesian and off-spec coals. With a lack of buying for the better South African coal, prices have fallen throughout the week.”

(Sourced from Bloomberg)