A short-term supply contract for coking coal has been reached between mining giant BHP Billiton and customers in Europe, China, India and Japan, BusinessWeek reported. The three-month contracts are a break away from annual pricing, and a significant victory for Melbourne-based BHP, who have been pushing for shorter term contracts in negotiations. In a statement, BHP said that it had "reached terms for a significant portion of its hard coking coal volumes for 2010", but did not give a price. Japanese steel maker JFE revealed on Friday that it had agreed a price of US$200 a ton on a three-month contract. The settlement, according to Macquarie commodities analyst Jim Lennon, "signals that the Japanese are moving toward the idea of flexibility of pricing. It’s pretty certain that you are going to see a similar development in iron ore."
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