TOKYO -- Prices of two key steelmaking materials have softened over the past few months, likely putting Japanese steel manufacturers in a weaker position to negotiate higher product prices.
Australian spot prices for coking coal, a benchmark for the commodity, now hover around $170 a ton, far down from April's high exceeding $300. A cyclone ripped through Australian coal country in late March, incapacitating coal trains. That forced steel mills in India and elsewhere to procure coking coals on the spot market. But Australian coal train services were restored in late April, and exports are due to recover in June.
