Price of a bag of coal?

A._Badger

Chef1980uk wrote: »

Just been told our price per bag is going up £2. Had a look at the price of coal being traded thinking it would be going up but no.

Sadly, this has been true for a good few years. As the coal trade declined in size it fell into the hands of a very small number of companies who don't really compete.

There are (relatively speaking) so few customers that the sector more or less escapes any scrutiny from the government or media. In short they can screw as much out of users as they like.

Coal prices should be falling both because of commodity prices and in response to the drop in oil, with which it often competes. It doesn't seem like this is going to happen. Of course, the result will be even fewer customers so it's a bit of a commercial death spiral.