An article in The Australian said for iron ore, “Market expectations are that the average annual spot market price this year will rise to $US153 to $US154 a tonne of iron ore fines with 62 per cent iron content, delivered to China, from $US146.70 in 2010, according to Steve Randall, managing director of The Steel Index, a London-based reference price supplier.

The expected 2011 average would exceed the average of just below $US150 a tonne in 2008, Mr Randall said... Iron ore supply had not yet responded to higher demand levels, which could put upward pressure on iron ore prices, Mr Randall said. "New iron production capacity will come on stream only at the end of 2011, in both Brazil and Australia," he said... Problems with heavy rain and flooding in parts of Australia -- said to be the worst in 20 years -- have had no direct effect on iron ore prices, Mr Randall said. The flooding is causing disruptions in Queensland, which principally is a producer of coal, not iron ore.>"However, (iron ore) prices are being affected by the sentiment. People believe the likelihood of more extreme weather is higher, with the possibility of more interruptions," he said.

Iron ore loading at a Rio Tinto port in Australia's Pilbara region was suspended for two days just before the end of last year due to a cyclone warning.

Spot iron prices rose US90c on Tuesday to $US171 a tonne, making for a $US6 increase in the past month, according to The Steel Index.”

According to Bloomberg’s article, coking coal “prices may increase to between $270 and $300 a metric ton, analysts from Macquarie Group Ltd., Morgan Stanley and Daiwa Capital Markets said. Steel mills agreed to pay $225 a ton for the three months starting Jan. 1, Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts said last month…..

“About 37 percent of the world’s traded coking coal is affected, according to Macquarie. Queensland floods in 2008 left steel producers, including Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp. and JFE Holdings Inc., with a threefold increase in annual contract prices to about $300 a ton.

Australian free-on-board prices may climb to $270 a ton for three-month contracts starting April 1 as the floods threaten to take as much as 10 million tons of metallurgical coal out of the market, said Colin Hamilton, a London-based Macquarie analyst.”

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