bhp billiton agreement coking coal salesCoking coal mining company BHP Billiton has reached a deal volume of hard coking coal sales to customers in Europe and Asia for the year 2010. Asian countries agree on the purchase of coking coal from BHP Billiton, among others, China, India and Japan. All three countries are the largest steel producers in Asia and the largest importer of coking coal in Asia.

The agreement between BHP Billiton and buyers coking coal is based on “structural changes” to the short-term market-based prices for the contract period.

The settlements reflected the company’s commitment to achieving market-clearing prices over time, across all its bulk commodities, said BHP Billiton, led by CEO Marius Kloppers.

The diversified mining company did not disclose the terms of the agreements with the European and Asian clients.

However, on Friday, newswire Reuters quoted Japanese steelmaker JFE Holdings as saying that it had agreed a coking coal price of $200/t for April to June.

The price for the three-month contract period represented a 55% increase from the benchmark price for the 2009/10 financial year of $129/t, Reuters reported.

BHP Billiton primarily produces and markets high-quality hard coking coals for the international steel industry. In addition, it supplies a wide range of other coal qualities to satisfy specific customer requirements.

The company’s metallurgical coal assets are located in areas with seaborne access to key steel producing regions. The group has access to dedicated deep-water ports allowing the use of large capacity vessels to further build on regional logistic advantages.

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