The major miner, which operates coking coal mines in the Bowen Basin as part of its BMA alliance with Mitsubishi, alongside its Illawarra metallurgical coal mines in New South Wales, reportedly demanded the price hike from Japanese steel mills over the weekend.
According to the Australian Financial Review, the Japanese mills are resisting the price hike, which was well above analyst expectations of a rise in contract prices to $200/t.
The spot price of Australian coal has already jumped to as high as $350/t at port in Australia after supply disruptions from the Bowen Basin.
The paper also said if coking coal prices did triple, this could add some $A24 billion to BHP’s bottom line.
Coking coal is Australia’s second most valuable export, behind iron ore.
