vorig jaar september deed Leone ook al nogal drastisch inkopen bij Forbes and Forbes Manhattan Coal. Metallurgical is het woord dat opvalt in het stukje hieronder. Schaarste is een motief van Leone lijkt het.
The world's most populous nation is importing more and more metallurgical coal for steel making, and American coal exporters are reaping the profits.
Jeremy Sussman is senior vice president and a senior analyst at Breen Murray, Carret & Co.
Jeremy Sussman: We are both short- and long-term bulls on the coal space, and believe that ultimately we're going to see U.S. companies benefit, both directly and indirectly, from tightness in the global markets that we're seeing. We expect the U.S. to increase as an exporter over the coming years as countries like China and India become more and more reliant on imported coal to meet their growing demand for both electricity and infrastructure, vis-a-vis steel production.
There are really two types of coal: thermal coal, which is used in electricity generation, and metallurgical coal, which is used in steel making. It's the latter, metallurgical coal, which we are the most bullish on. Frankly, that's the market where we think you're going to see structural tightness for the foreseeable future. The world is going to be short on high quality metallurgical coal.
As a result, countries like China, and even developed Asian nations like Japan, are starting to come all the way to the U.S. to import metallurgical coal directly. As a result, we're seeing our producers benefit directly from what's going on a long ways away.
Forbes: Interesting. Is that internationalization of the market for U.S. coal a newer phenomenon?
Sussman: Well, the export market has really taken off over the last few years. For example, in 2008, the U.S. exported just a little bit more metallurgical coal than was used domestically.