The metallurgical coal price has rallied from $224 a tonne to $282 in a few weeks, with the equities following. The median move across the listed coal group is close to 25%.
Metallurgical, or coking, coal is an industrial input used in blast furnaces alongside iron ore to produce the coke that reduces iron ore to metallic iron. It is distinct from the thermal coal burned in power stations.
Demand is increasingly driven by India, whose National Steel Policy targets 300 million tonnes of crude steel capacity by 2030, roughly double the current level. India imports 85% of its coking coal today and aims to reduce that to 65% by 2030 through domestic washing and beneficiation.
Supply has been shrinking, with years of capital starvation linked to ESG trends, permitting delays and geological depletion in premium Australian basins leaving the seaborne market thin. Diesel-driven cost inflation in Appalachia and Australia, worsened by Middle East oil disruption, has added to the pressure.
The article notes that a benchmark of $282 will attract new supply eventually, but argues the move reflects a repricing of a structural mismatch between steel demand, particularly in India, and metallurgical coal supply.