Dramatic Heatwave Threatens Uzbekistan’s Electric Grid

Japan’s Nippon Steel Corporation has signed an agreement with mining and trading giant Glencore for thermal coal supply at $375 per ton in what is likely one of the highest prices a Japanese firm has paid for the commodity ever, sources familiar with the deal told Bloomberg on Wednesday. As coal prices are soaring amid a global energy crunch and bans on Russia’s coal exports in the West, customers around the world are paying record-high prices for coal and are using more coal as they switch from expensive gas, where the market is even…