It said a lack of Chinese buying activity and a lack of supply discipline from the exporting side continued to depress pricing.

Coal prices absorbed significant losses as traders started to believe that the oversupply within the market would not clear up anytime soon.

Meanwhile, the switch away from coal to gas-fired power stations is taking longer to eventuate in the UK than it has in the US.

“A key focus point in the weeks ahead is coal-to-gas switching, which has seen some life breathed into it by lower prices,” according to PIRA.

“UK gas-fired dispatching has been somewhat more supported, having averaged roughly 11.8 GWs and 47.7 mmcm/d of gas offtake in the NTS [grid], but gas-fired generation is far from its ancient glory.

“With a strong recovery in residual power demand unlikely for the third quarter, we are wondering how much more coal-fired capacity can be switched off, creating room for gas-fired output.”

PIRA said its research had shown that rigidities limit UK coal-to-gas switching.

It believed that in the US, with the second quarter of calendar 2014 nearly complete, there were clear winners and losers among the regional markets in terms of margins.

Specifically, PIRA’s analysis of electricity and coal market fundamentals revealed that in the UK, while gas-fired generation has inched higher, further dispatching opportunities for gas-fired units appeared quite limited at this stage, as the residual coal-fired dispatching was more difficult to displace.