Australia’s worst floods in 60 years could hit coal exports

A state of natural disaster has been declared in parts of the north-central Australian state of New South Wales after days of heavy rainfall caused rivers to swell.

New South Wales is bracing for the worst flooding in nearly 60 years, the Guardian said, with some residents in low-lying areas already being evacuated and many forced to leave their homes.

It is understood that more than 95% of Australia’s black coal resources are concentrated in New South Wales and Queensland. New South Wales is an important coal producing area in Australia, and the black coal extracted accounts for 2/3 of the black coal production in Australia.

Some analysts said the declaration of a state of natural disaster in parts of the state would certainly affect the normal mining of coal there. Although it has not affected the main coal producing areas in New South Wales at present, it may have some impact on the port of Newcastle and the transportation from the producing area to the port, but it is expected to concentrate on thermal coal, and the impact on coking coal is relatively small.

Analysts expect the floods to hurt Australian thermal coal exports in the short term, supporting international thermal coal prices. Meanwhile, falling supplies from Australia could boost demand for South African coal to some extent, supporting seaborne prices.