Australian coking coal export prices fell nearly 4% reaching single digits for the first time since the data have been collected while quarterly contract prices reached six year lows.

According to data supplied by The SteelIndex spot Australian hard coking coal (FOB Australian east coast exports) price gave up 3.7% to USD 99.50 per tonne, the lowest since January 2013.

The steelmaking raw material is down 16% so far this year. Spot premium coking coal used lost USD 4.60 or over 4% to USD 108.20 a tonne also the lowest on record.

According to a new report by Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics, the Australian government's official forecaster, few miners can operate profitably at these prices. Today the soft market claimed another casualty with Glencore shutting down its Ravenswood underground mine in Australia.

Anglo American is reported to have settled second quarter contracts with Japan at USD 120 a tonne. At the same time Indian steel mills according to Bloomberg have inked supply deals at USD 125 per tonne down 13% from Q1 benchmarks and the lowest since 2008.

Quarterly benchmark coking coal traded as high as USD 330 per tonne in mid 2011 after bad weather took much of Australia's supply off the market and stayed above USD 200 for two years between September 2010 and September 2012.

China overtook Japan as the world's top importer of coking coal in 2012 and this year is expected to buy 100 million tonnes mainly from Australia. That compares to 55 million tonnes for Japan and 40 million tonnes for the EU.