Energy coal prices at the port of Newcastle, Australia, the world’s biggest export harbor for the fuel, rose 1.3 percent to a record on expectations of supply shortages in Asia and a disruption to deliveries from a Queensland State mine.

Coal for immediate delivery at Newcastle rose 96 cents to $76.95 a metric ton in the week ended last Friday, according to the globalCOAL NEWC Index. The previous all-time high was $76.16 reached two weeks ago.

Supply has struggled to meet demand this year because of bottlenecks in producer countries like Australia and South Africa, and as China became a net importer of coal for the first time. Anglo American, the world’s second-biggest mining company, last week declared force majeure on shipments from the Dawson mine in Queensland.

“It’s the expectations that demand continues to outpace supply so the market is in deficit; it’s about people’s perceptions of what is around the corner,” Rory Simington, a senior coal analyst at AME Mineral Economics in Sydney, said of the record price. “We’re coming into a period of higher demand, winter is approaching, and people are wondering where the additional supply is going to come from.”

Japanese power generators may accept a 22 percent increase in the contract price of coal in the year starting April 1 amid the supply constraints, Citigroup said in a report Friday. The bank forecast prices will be set at $67 a ton, from $55 this year.

“Producers are well placed” for negotiations, two Citigroup analysts, Alan Heap and Alex Tonks, said in the report.

AME is more bullish, forecasting contract prices next year may be at least $70 a ton.

“There’s a good chance it’s going to have a seven in front of it, a very good chance,” Simington said. “We have increased our price forecast a couple of times. We’ve been surprised by the strength of the prices.”

Coal miners in Hunter Valley, Australia, were aiming to ship 7.9 million tons of coal through Newcastle in October, yet are running behind schedule because of reductions in the availability of systems, the Hunter Valley Coal Chain Logistics Team said on its Web site. Rio Tinto Group and Xstrata are among companies with mines in the Hunter Valley.

Anglo American last week warned customers it might miss contracted shipments after an “incident” at a coal-handling unit at the Dawson mine, a London-based spokeswoman said Friday. Anglo owns 51 percent of Dawson, with Mitsui Coal Holdings owning the rest.

Repairs may take about two months, resulting in a drop in coal shipments from the mine in November and December, the Tex Report said Friday.

Customers are being forced to seek alternative supplies, yet options are limited because of the tightening market for both power-station and coking coal, the Japanese coal industry newsletter said.
Chinese terminal planned

China Merchants Holdings (International), owner of stakes in the five largest mainland Chinese container ports, plans to build a 3.5 billion yuan, or $468 million, multipurpose terminal in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

The company aims to build the terminal in the Qianhaiwan district of Mawan int he city, and develop it into five berths, the company’s chairman, Fu Yuning, told reporters in Shenzhen on Friday. The first berth, to cost less than 700 million yuan, will be used for bulk cargo and will have a capacity of 100,000 tons. Construction will start next year.

“Bulk cargo business should continue to prosper over the next two to three years,” said Roslyn Ji, an analyst at Core Pacific-Yamaichi International in Hong Kong. “The company wants to diversify their business as most of the container terminals are mature and developed.”

China Merchants is benefiting from expanding global trade as the country exports more clothing, computers and other goods to Europe and the United States. It plans to increase investment in bulk terminals because of rising imports of raw materials to China, which is already the biggest user of steel, rubber, coal and other commodities.

“The terminal can be used for containers or for bulk cargo,” Fu said. “It depends on the needs of the market.”

China Merchants expects bulk terminals to account for more than 10 percent of sales and profit, Fu said last month, without providing a timeframe. The company handled 77.5 million tons at its bulk cargo terminals in the first six months of 2007, up 7 percent from a year earlier, according to a company statement Sept. 19.

The company said last month it would pay 1.6 billion yuan for a 45 percent stake in the Zhanjiang Port Group, which handles dry-bulk cargo in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong.