This deal with Tohoku Electric Power was reported by Bloomberg with the undisclosed source saying it was down from the October 2012 settlement of $96.10/t.

While a Tohoku spokesman confirmed a contract was settled, he did not reveal the price while Glencore was reportedly not commenting.

The latest contract is also down almost 10% from a reported $95/t annual coal delivery settlement between Tohoku and the pre-merger Xstrata Coal that started in line with the Japanese financial year on April 1.

Meanwhile, spot Newcastle-exported thermal coal prices were trading around $78/t last week.