, Columnist
Why We Missed the Coal Spike
Unlike oil, this fossil fuel's surge is built on more volatile foundations.
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We got it wrong on coal.
Falling inventories at Chinese ports might not be sufficient to set the market on fire, Gadfly argued in February. After prices instead rose about 42 percent, China's economic planners last month ordered a ramp-up of production at local pits to squash the boom. The prospect of a buyer's cartel should be able to push prices back down to between $50 and $60 a metric ton, Gadfly argued.