Berlin said it will bring down gas usage in power generation by "possibly keeping coal-fired power plants as a security standby for longer."

"The only commodity that can help solve the energy crisis in Europe in the short term is coal," said Sveinung Stohle, deputy CEO of Greek-based shipping company Angelicoussis Group. "Like it or not, coal will play a very important role."

In 2021, Russia was the largest natural gas-exporting country in the world, the second-largest crude oil and condensates-exporting country after Saudi Arabia, and the third-largest coal-exporting country behind Indonesia and Australia.

The Newcastle 5,500 kcal/kg NAR coal with 23% ash hit a fresh record high $295/mt FOB March 9, the highest since the grade was first assessed in August 2017,

The Northeast Asia thermal coal price assessment 5,750 NAR rose $28.23 on the session to $248.63/mt.

Germany will look into all options in response to the likely decrease or stop in Russian fossil fuel deliveries to Germany, including a longer run-time of nuclear and coal-fired power plants, even if those options are unlikely.

Europe's top economy has been under pressure from other Western nations to become less dependent on Russian gas, but its plans to phase out coal-fired power plants by 2030 and to shut its nuclear power plants by end-2022 have left it with few options.

The world coal industry has secured $363 billion in bank credits in the period from January 2019 to November 2021, and banks continued to support transactions on the sale of securities of companies in the industry, with their combined sum totalling $1.2 trillion.

India's coal demand stood at 905.88 million mt in 2020-21, with domestic supply contributing 690.89 million mt and imports at 214.99 million mt, the ministry data showed.

The eastern Chinese coastal province of Zhejiang has approved the construction of a new 7 billion yuan ($1.10 billion) coal-fired power plant with 2 gigawatts (GW) of generating capacity