Thermal Coal
globalCOAL / ICE
The fuel the West retired and Asia did not: still the largest single source of electricity on earth.
Top Producers
share of 2024 seaborne thermal coal exports
Top Consumers
share of 2024 seaborne thermal coal imports
Main Uses
seaborne thermal coal consumption by use, 2024
Top Exporters
share of 2024 seaborne thermal coal exports
Top Importers
share of 2024 seaborne thermal coal imports
All-time futures high
$457.80/t (Newcastle)
September 2022
Global consumption
roughly 8.8 billion tonnes, a record
as of 2024
Seaborne thermal trade
roughly 1 billion tonnes per year
as of 2024
Largest exporter
Indonesia, roughly 525 million tonnes
as of 2025
Benchmark specification
6,000 kcal/kg NAR, FOB Newcastle
Thermal coal, also called steam coal, is burned in power station boilers to raise steam, distinct from the metallurgical coal used to make steel. The seaborne market's benchmark is Newcastle coal: 6,000 kcal/kg net-as-received energy content, loaded free on board at the port of Newcastle, Australia, assessed by globalCOAL and traded as cash-settled futures on ICE. The Atlantic counterpart, API2, prices coal delivered into the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp hub, but its importance has faded in step with Europe's coal phase-out; the market's center of gravity is now unambiguously Pacific.
Coal has repeatedly refused to follow the script written for it. Global consumption, widely expected to peak in the mid-2010s, instead set a record near 8.8 billion tonnes in 2024, because Chinese and Indian power demand grew faster than their renewable buildouts could cover. The 2022 energy crisis produced the price spike of the commodity's history: with European utilities scrambling to replace Russian gas and an EU embargo cutting off Russian coal, Newcastle futures reached a record $457.80 per tonne in September 2022, roughly six times their 2019 level.
The structural picture is a slow-motion split. The OECD is exiting: the United Kingdom closed its last coal plant in September 2024, and US coal generation is a third of its 2008 peak. Asia is consolidating: China alone burns more than half the world's coal and continued approving new plants through 2025, while India's consumption is on a steady climb. For traders the result is a market whose marginal price is set by Chinese import appetite, Indonesian export volumes, and Indian monsoon-season demand, with Newcastle as the scoreboard.
How It Trades
| Venue | globalCOAL (physical screen and index), ICE (futures), with CME listing parallel contracts |
| Benchmark contract | ICE Newcastle Coal futures (cash settled against the globalCOAL NEWC index); ICE Rotterdam Coal futures against API2 for the Atlantic |
| Contract size | 1,000 tonnes per futures lot |
| Price terms | USD per tonne, FOB Newcastle, 6,000 kcal/kg NAR basis (API2: CIF Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp) |
| Settlement | Cash settled against the monthly average of the relevant index; physical trade negotiates against the same markers. |
| Typical curve | Mild seasonality around Northern Hemisphere winter and Asian summer cooling demand; the curve spends most of its life in shallow contango or backwardation, with violent backwardation during supply shocks such as 2022. |
| Liquidity | Adequate but thinner than gas or power: open interest concentrated in the front two years, dominated by utilities, miners, and Asian trading houses; several Western banks exited coal trading for ESG reasons during the early 2020s. |
Where It Trades
approximate share of global traded volume, 2025; physical and OTC trade remains a large share of the market relative to screen futures
Supply and Demand
Top producers
- China (largest miner by far, but most output consumed domestically)
- India (second-largest miner, also domestically consumed)
- Indonesia (largest thermal coal exporter: a record near 555 million tonnes in 2024, easing to roughly 525 million tonnes in 2025)
- Australia (largest exporter of high-energy coal, home of the Newcastle benchmark)
- Russia, South Africa, Colombia (secondary exporters)
The seaborne market is roughly 1 billion tonnes per year, a fraction of total production. Indonesian low-energy coal serves price-sensitive Asian buyers; Australian high-energy coal serves Japan, Korea, and Taiwan; quality differences mean the benchmarks are not interchangeable.
Top consumers
- China (more than half of global consumption)
- India (the fastest-growing large consumer)
- Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines)
- Japan, South Korea, Taiwan (mature but persistent importers)
Major uses
- Power generation (the dominant use)
- Cement kilns and industrial boilers
- Residential and district heating in parts of Asia
European import demand, the historical basis of the API2 index, has fallen to a sliver as coal plants closed; Germany's remaining fleet operates mainly as winter reserve.
What Moves the Price
- Chinese import policy and the spread between domestic and seaborne prices
- Indian power demand, monsoon timing, and domestic mine output
- Competing gas prices: expensive TTF and JKM pull coal demand up, cheap gas pushes it down
- Indonesian export volumes and weather disruption to loading
- Australian supply events: floods, rail constraints, industrial action
- EU carbon prices, which set the coal-versus-gas merit order in remaining European generation
- Hydropower output in China and Southeast Asia, which swings thermal burn
Moments That Made the Market
2001
globalCOAL launches standardized screen trading and the NEWC index, creating the modern benchmark.
2008
Newcastle spot touches nearly $200/t in the commodity boom of July 2008, then halves in the crash.
2011
Post-Fukushima fuel switching and Asian growth hold prices above $120/t.
2015
Glut and Chinese slowdown sink Newcastle near $50/t, triggering miner bankruptcies.
2021
China's unofficial ban on Australian coal redraws trade flows; an autumn power crunch sends prices above $250/t in October 2021.
2022
The EU embargo on Russian coal and the gas crisis push Newcastle futures to a record $457.80/t in September 2022.
2024
Global coal consumption sets a record near 8.8 billion tonnes; the United Kingdom closes its last coal plant in September 2024.
What Changed Since the 2010 Handbook Era
- In 2010 the consensus was managed decline; instead global consumption set a record near 8.8 billion tonnes in 2024.
- The market's center of gravity moved from the Atlantic (API2) to the Pacific (Newcastle) as Europe phased coal out and Asia grew.
- Western banks and many trading houses exited coal financing and trading, thinning the derivative market's old dealer base.
- The 2022 crisis showed coal is still the system's emergency fuel, repricing the entire curve above $400/t.
- China's 2020-2023 ban on Australian coal proved trade flows can be redrawn by politics almost overnight.