Against a background of electricity sector deregulation in Asia and demand for an independently established, transparent and reliable reference price for spot FOB Newcastle thermal coal prices, a Newcastle Index (NEWC IndexTM) has been developed with the assistance of the marketplace. Over the past few months, several Asian consumers have linked physical tonnage to globalCOAL's NEWC IndexTM due to the robust nature of the corresponding index methodology.
To date, globalCOALTM has transacted almost four million metric tonnes of Newcastle specification coal on its Standard Coal System (SCS) in 2002 alone, most of which has been traded in the last 6 months after the commencement of the first Newcastle Market Price Initiative (NMPI) in July of 2002. Also, all transactions executed on the SCS system are governed by globalCOAL's Standard Coal Trading Agreement ("SCoTATM") and participation is open to all globalCOALTM Market Members.
About globalCOALTM
globalCOALTM is an Internet-based, electronic marketplace where participants can buy and/or sell coal products and related instruments. In addition, globalCOALTM offers various value added services across the industry supply chain. The company was founded on April 18, 2001 by Accel-KKR Company LLC, Anglo American plc, BHP Billiton plc, E.ON Kraftwerke GmbH, Enel FTL S.P.A., EPDC Overseas Coal Co., Ltd., Glencore International AG, Rio Tinto plc and TXU Europe Energy Trading Limited and is headquartered in London, England.
