Could coal demand possibly bounce back? Watch for any signs Asia and Russia might be waving

摘要

If there is any underlying, bullish news anywhere these days, it's in Asia and in Russia. It's much too early to predict a strong economic revival anywhere, but there are signs indicating that Asia could see its coal demand bounce back. China appears to have put together a very effective stimulus package, at least in terms of benefiting its basic industries. Chris Plummer of Metal Strategies made this pretty canny observation to U.S. Coal Review: "China accounts for 30-40 percent of all steel output and demand. Almost 90 percent of the output is coal-based, integrated steel. What goes on there has a huge impact on what happens around the world.