Three leading global thermal coal price benchmarks have fallen below levels last seen during the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, knocked by a sharp slowdown in demand, especially in Asia, and with mining output remaining high. Europe's Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp, Australia's Newcastle and South Africa's Richards Bay benchmarks have dropped to between $51 and $58 per tonne, or about 60 percent off their last peak in 2011 and 75 percent below all-time highs hit in 2008.
