【Thermal Coal Gains on Geopolitical Spikes While Met Coal Sinks】

Published: Jul 29, 2026 14:33

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As of July 27, 2026, global coal spot markets experienced intense volatility. Driven by geopolitical tensions and supply fears, European coal physical quotes stood firm at $119/t, while TTF natural gas surged by +$78.30/kcm to a 4-month high of $730.89/kcm, leaving EU underground gas storage at 54% (11 percentage points lower y-o-y). Concurrently, South African high-CV 6000 coal rose to $106-107/t, Australian high-CV 6000 thermal coal strengthened to nearly $133/t, and China's Qinhuangdao 5500 NAR spot price gained $3/t to $122/t with 9-port inventories climbing to 30.71 million tonnes. Conversely, suppressed by a sluggish steel market, the Australian HCC metallurgical coal index crashed to $222/t, and Chinese major mills implemented a RMB 50-55/t price cut on domestic coke starting July 22.

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