Commodity Watch Indonesia: Coal & Crude Oil
The price of coal rose at the end of trading on Wednesday (26/07) in line with strengthening crude oil prices. Coal futures (January 2018 contracts, the most-active contract on the Rotterdam commodities exchange), finished 0.03 percent higher at USD $73.15 per metric ton. Hence, coal extended its rise after a 1.04 percent increase on the previous trading day (25/07).
Crude oil continued its rally on Wednesday, following reports of declining US oil inventories to levels that were last seen at the start of the year. West Texas Intermediate oil (for September delivery) rose 86 cents to USD $48.75 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its highest closing level since 30 May 2017.
Meanwhile, Brent crude (September contract) ended 77 cents higher at USD $50.97 per barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.
Energy Information Administration (EIA) data, released on Wednesday, showed crude inventories fell 7.21 million barrels per day (bpd) last week to the lowest level since 6 January 2017. Meanwhile, the amount of gasoline/petrol inventories fell for the sixth week to the lowest level since December.
US crude stockpiles fell to 483.4 million barrels last week, while gasoline/petrol reserves fell 1.02 million barrels to 230.2 million barrels.
Coal Futures (January 2018 Contract):
| 18 July |
19 July | 20 July |
21 July | 24 July | 25 July | 26 July | |
| Price (USD/ton) |
73.48 | 73.21 | 73.41 | 73.74 | 72.38 | 73.13 | 73.15 |
Source: Bisnis Indonesia