Due to supply disruption brought on by worker strikes in South Africa and the gnawing energy crisis that is sweeping Europe, coal prices have risen by the most in the continent’s largest port since last May.
The Bloomberg News Agency quoted Alex Claude CEO of DBX Comedies Trading in London as saying that the strike of the workers of the Trans Net SS company or South African Railways and Ports “continued longer than expectation and began to affect exports strongly.
The volume of coal exported from South Africa decreased to 600,000 tonnes, the lowest level in more than a year.
South African problems coincide with the problems of European electricity producers, who are trying to store coal before winter to make up for the shortage of natural gas supply from Russia.
Due to restrictions imposed by the European Union, which forbid the purchase of coal from Russia, the continent’s largest source of coal, merchants in South Africa are becoming more and more reliant on the European coal market.
Following a decline on October 10 to their lowest levels in around seven months, coal futures prices increased by 11% to nearly 290 dollars per tonne for the following month during trading on Wednesday.
According to Claude, the most recent peak could possibly be the result of trade actions to alleviate the scarcity or generate gains following a protracted price decrease.
Due to a paucity of supplies as a result of the strike in South Africa, there are high coal prices in Europe.
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