US over-the-counter thermal coal prices closed mixed on Monday, with only a handful of trades seen trading in the session.
Barged Central Appalachian thermal coal rose 25 cents/st along the 2014-2015 curve, while CAPP rail (CSX) prices fell 20-25 cents/st along the same forward points.
At the front of the futures curve, CSX July CME ClearPort over ICE Clear traded at 15 cents/st for 50,000 st. July was cleared at $59.50/st on CME, and at $59.35/st on ICE.
Open interest for July was at 400 contracts on ICE and at 773 contracts on CME as of June 13.
The Platts OTC Broker Index for July averaged $59.40/st, with seven trading days remaining prior to futures expiration.
The July physical contract, which was not seen trading on Monday, was assessed 20 cents/st lower to $59.15/st, based on broker information.
Liquidity in the front-month futures contract is down sharply month on month, as the July contract was seen trading only twice prior to Monday's session. In comparison, the June swap was seen trading 65 times from February 13 to May 14.
The June physical contract traded 31 times for 31 trains, while the July physical contract traded 10 times for 12 trains.
Separately, CSX physical Q4 2014 was heard to have traded at $61/st for one train/month. The price was assessed there, down 25 cents/st.
