Suppliers of coking coal, also vital to the steelmaking process, insisted on even greater hikes.
It is already largely dependent on imports of coking coal, used to make steel.
ECONOMIST: What is good news for miners is bad news for the environment
Coking coal producers not affected by the floods are already reflecting the increase, and that will likely continue.
Iron ore and coking coal are used in the production of new steel.
The merged firm would also be dominant in aluminium, uranium and coking coal.
The situation in Queensland is being closely watched by the global steel industry, because it exports half the coking coal needed to make the metal.
Coking coal is high grade coal used in the production of steel.
This has led to increased use of coking coal in these countries, which is used for manufacturing steel, a basic building material.
FORBES: Can Coal Exports Markets Make Up For Domestic Coal's Plunge?
In December, steelmakers suffered the doubling of the benchmark price of coking coal, which fuels the blast furnaces that turn iron into steel.
They say this is because it depends on how long the floods continue, and the size of the coking coal stockpiles the world's steelmakers currently have in place.
Mines responsible for between 100 and 140 million tons of annual coking coal production are now under force majeure, representing as much as 40% of global supply.
Rio Tinto announced deals with its partners in China , including the creation of a joint venture with Chinalco to seek new sources of copper and coking coal.
Australia accounts for almost two-thirds of global coking coal production.
Sydney-based Riversdale has large coking coal projects in Mozambique.
But in 2006, it embarked on a massive investment and construction project to build blast furnaces which use iron ore and coking coal to produce high-quality virgin steel for cars, ships and consumer durable goods.
The favourite theory so far is that the attack on Mechel was instigated by one of its customers or competitors, who complained to Mr Sechin that Mechel was abusing its monopoly position in coking coal.
In 2009, the company generated 29% of its revenue from selling steam coal to power plants, and 10% from sales of coking and pulverized coal that feeds the blast furnaces at steel mills and other metallurgical operations.
应用推荐