Xstrata PLC, the mining firm that sets prices for Australia's thermal coal exports, is poised to keep contracts within $4 of last year's all-time high as it negotiates with Japanese utilities recovering from the March 11 disasters.
Japanese electricity producers may agree to pay from $115 to $126 a metric ton for annual supplies starting April 1, according to estimates from five banks. The utilities, including Chugoku Electric Power Co., paid a record $129.85 a ton last year in yearly contracts with Xstrata after rain in Australia, Indonesia and Colombia cut output.
Thermal coal sales to Japan, the world's second-biggest buyer of the power-station fuel, are set to rebound this year, according to Citigroup Inc. Purchases may rise 3 percent to 104 million tons in 2012, exceeding last year and 2010, Daiwa Capital Markets said. All but two of Japan's 54 nuclear reactors remain idle, boosting the need for thermal generation.