Reuters reported that a rise in offers for coal deliveries clashed with a lack of bids on Wednesday, pulling down European physical coal prices.

TRADES
An April delivery DES ARA cargo traded at USD 100.5 a tonne on globalCOAL, down USD 2.5 from Tuesday.

PRICES
A Q3 2012 South African cargo was offered at USD 114.90 a tonne.
A March DES ARA for coal was bid at USD 100.00 a tonne, down USD 1.5 on the day

The increase in offers was likely a result of traders offering coal deliveries in anticipation of rising demand during the cold snap that has gripped large parts of Europe.

A Trader said “The offers available are still at too high a price to be taken, so many coal users are still burning stock before taking on new orders.”

Generators were left with high stockpiles at European import terminals and power plants in December after the warmest winter for 30 years and will need more than one week's freezing temperatures to make more than a dent in their stocks. But traders said the downward move was likely to be temporary because such severe weather conditions usually trigger higher coal consumption to generate base load power and boost prices.

(Sourced from Reuters)