MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- BHP Billiton Ltd. said Wednesday that prices this year for metallurgical coking coal products were expected to cost more than three times what they did last year.
The estimate was based on the settlement of contracts so far by the BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance, a partnership between the Anglo-Australian miner and a subsidiary of Japan's Mitsubishi Corp. The alliance operates coal mines in Queensland state.
''Prices for Peak Down and other similar BMA metallurgical coking coal products are expected to increase within the range of 206-240 percent over 2007 levels,'' BHP Billiton said in a statement.
The statement noted that a ''significant proportion'' of annually priced BMA contracts had been concluded.
The global mining industry is thriving on higher prices for raw materials, such as iron ore and coking coal, as steel makers race to meet growing demand from construction companies, auto makers and other manufacturers. At the same time, supplies are constrained as miners try to boost production.
Earlier Wednesday, Tokyo-based JFE Steel Corp. said it had agreed to an increase that would more than triple coal prices for fiscal 2008 to $300 a ton, from $98.
The BHP-Mitsubishi joint venture is Australia's largest coal miner and exporter and the world's largest supplier to the seaborne coking coal market, representing 28 percent of global trade.
