The world price of coal

Abstract

A significant increase in the seaborne trade for coal over the past twenty years has unified formerly separate coal markets into a world market in which prices move in tandem. Due to its large domestic market, the United States has become the residual supplier and price setter in the world coal market. Changes in multifactor productivity have been the primary cause of the long-term fluctuations in coal prices that have been observed in the United States since the end of the Second World War and in the world coal market.