Colombian coal exports were expected to increase to 165,000 tons per day as a four-week strike by rail-workers ended Monday.
On Monday, coal prices dropped sharply as exports from Colombia resumed and the Atlantic seaborne coal market was expected to return to surplus, according to Reuters newswire.
Although figures for Monday were not seen, traders said physical orders to Europe for September would not be valued very far above $90 a ton, down from prices as high as $96 seen during the strike.
The 28-day strike by Fenoco, Colombia’s main coal railway, cut exports by more than half and as much as 4 million tons are estimated to have been lost from the country’s 2012 exports.
Supply in the U.S. was also affected during August and mining company Drummond announced it was running out of stock 11 days in to the strike.
Colombia’s resumption of exports also pulled down coal prices, which dropped from over $90 in early August to under $80 a ton on Monday.