Combined coal stocks at three delivery terminals in Northwest Europe’s Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp trading hub slipped a further 3.86% over the week, as end users continued to draw down on port inventories following a recent cold snap and lifting of transport restrictions.

Stock levels drifted down to 4.61 million mt according to data collected from port sources. Buyers were widely said to have ramped up barge reloads in order to replenish inventories at their facilities now that water levels on the Rhine River — Germany’s main transportation waterway for goods — have risen. This reduced barge costs significantly as vessels could now load close to full capacity, one source said.

Although the week-on-week reduction is the second in a row, stocks remained 32.8% higher in year-on-year comparisons, a trend that is expected to continue for the remainder of the first quarter, according to one source.

Stocks at OBA Bulk Amsterdam’s terminal fell 200,000 mt over the week to 2 million mt, while levels at the EMO dry bulk terminal in Rotterdam were only marginally lower, at 2.17 million mt, a 30,000 mt reduction.

The only facility to show a slight uptick over the week was the OVET dry bulk terminal in Vlissingen, which had 440,000 mt of coal in stock, an increase of 45,000 mt on the week.

“We’ve seen a good level of reloading again this week but arrivals are still in line with expectations for the time of year,” one source said. “I think stocks will hold this sort of level until the end of February now.”

CIF ARA thermal coal prices had been more or less rangebound over the previous week as uncertainty over the direction of the market and limited demand kept buyers on the sidelines.

S&P Global Platts assessed the price of European-delivered CIF ARA thermal coal basis 6,000 kcal/kg NAR and for delivery within the next 15-60 days at $81/mt Monday, a reduction of 30 cents on the week.

Source: Platts