The bad thing about contracts is the same as the good thing: the buyer's price remains constant while the actual price fluctuates. In a reeling coal industry where coal prices have been in a free-fall, even contracts a few months old are locking buyers into what are now considered exorbitant amounts for coal.

One such casualty is a contract initiated only last September between ArcelorMittal and Foundation Coal Holdings that is now the subject of a breach of contract lawsuit.  The original agreement was for a $40 million dollar purchase of over 200,000 tons of coking coal.

Read the article here.