International affairs

摘要

International politics do make a difference when it comes to investing in coal. Two years of rising coal prices, driven first by China's surging demand coal and sustained by the long slump of the US dollar have given the US coal industry a tutorial in the impacts that shifting international trends can have on their markets. World markets are often moved by politics, and the political stance of different governments can have surprisingly swift impacts on the politicized world of energy supply. As import levels of coal grow swiftly, with potential for a significant shift in buying to take increased amounts of import coal over the long term, US buyers can no longer ignore or dismiss the politics of those nations from which they obtain their coal.