Buchanan blues prompts early settlement?

摘要

Consol's closed Buchan low vol mine has now exhausted all its minehead stocks and buyers are waiting anxiously for its reopening - until recently tipped by Consol for early September. So crucial is Buchanan to many blends in both the US and Europe, that its return to healthy production is being watched avidly. "I find it hard to believe that Buchanan will be up and running next month. But even if it is, nearly lmt of output has already been lost, and in this market that is just not going to be made up," judged another US low-vol producer. Buchan's biggest European customers are thought to be Arcelor and Rautarukki. Many US exporters have not only seen an increasing thirsty European market developing through the year - not least through revived interest in Eastern Europe and along the Danube - but it is coming at the same time when Japanese buyers are once again focussing once again on sourcing product from the US. A trip through the US coalfields by Mitsui last month is seen a harbinger of strong buyer interest.