US physical coal markets remained under pressure in the week ending Feb. 27, with Eastern rail coal and the production- challenged Western bituminous region making modest gains while competitors drifted flat-to-lower on a bearish demand outlook. Despite being a baseload generation fuel, coal has seen its market share constricted by cheap spot natural gas prices that rose this week but still remain in the 4 dollars /mmBtu range for prompt-month futures. Meanwhile, the struggling US economy could already be proving a formidable force on coal burn. Genscape data estimate coal-fired generation continues to lag behind last year, down by 920,000 tons in the latest week ended Feb. 26. Year-to-date the coal burn has been 186.2 million tons, down 8.2 million tons from a year ago.
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