The international steam coal market and UK coal

World steam coal demand will be driven, for the next decade, by coal-capable power station capacity. Barring very large price changes, coal prices will be a less important determinant of demand, except in the smaller industrial market. The SPRU power plant data base, which also contains data on plant under construction, is used to establish likely year 2000 levels of coal demand inside and outside the OECD, and of traded coal demand. It is concluded that demand growth will be real but modest; price competition from international coal will put pressure on the European coal industries, including the UK's