* Got average 17 pct hike for coking coal, 42 pct for coke
* Lower coking capacity helps prices
* Shares up 5.5 percent
* Production plans unchanged, cautious on outlook
(Adds CFO comments, updates share price)
By Jan Lopatka
PRAGUE, July 21 (Reuters) - Czech coal miner New World
Resources <NWRS.L> <NWRSsp.PR> said on Wednesday it had
negotiated significant rises in coke and coking coal prices for
the third quarter, sending its shares higher.
The company said in a statement it secured an average 17
percent hike in coking coal prices for the third quarter
compared with the previous three months of 2010 and a 42 percent
rise in coke prices.
Chief Financial Officer Marek Jelinek said the price jump
was in part helped by a reduction in coking capacity in the
region following the economic crisis and an export duty on coke
imposed by China.
"There is no one to produce it here and there is nowhere to
import it from, which leads to relatively high growth in coking
prices here," Jelinek told Reuters in a telephone interview.
The rises were strongly above analysts' forecasts and NWR
shares jumped as much as 7.7 percent to four-week high in the
market before sliding back to 228.7 crowns at 0912 GMT, still up
4.91 percent. The wider market <> grew 1.05 percent.
The company said the average price for about 300,000 tonnes
of coking coal priced on a quarterly basis -- about 20 percent
of total coking coal sales -- was 158 euros ($203.9) per tonne.
The average price for coke, which is all sold on a quarterly
basis, was 362 euros per tonne, the company said. It said it
expected to sell 250,000 tonnes of coke in the quarter.
"We consider the news positive as especially the coking coal
price for 3Q beat our estimate (for) increase by up to 10
percent," said Milan Vanicek, head of research at brokerage
Atlantik, in a report.
"However, development in the steel industry, which is
dependent on overall economic recovery, remains the key factor
in NWR's future performance."
Jelinek said the company remained cautious on the outlook in
the steel sector, the main coke buyer, but pointed out that a
drop in monthly production in June was seasonal.
NWR said it maintained its calendar 2010 production target
of 11.5 million tonnes of coal and 1 million tonnes of coke, as
it could not raise output in the short-run despite the market
being able to swallow more.
Jelinek said if the company reports a second quarter profit
on Aug. 26, he remained in favour of restoring an interim
dividend.
He said there was no change in the firm's plans at the
Debiensko site in Poland, where it is exploring opening a mine.
"We still believe we will make a final decision in the
course of this year on whether and when to start implementing
the project, and if the decision is positive, we would begin to
open the mine at the beginning of the next year," he said.
(Editing by Samia Nakhoul)
