From Kim Iskyan, Editor, True Wealth Asia:

For years, the price action of coal has been as black as coal itself. That might finally be changing.

Until January, coal was in a brutal 5-year bear market. After hitting an all-time high of US$139 in January 2011, the price of coal (as reflected by ICE Newcastle) dropped… and didn’t stop falling. In January of this year, it hit a low of US$48.85, as you can see in the chart below.

Now it appears coal has finally carved out a bottom.

As we explained in January, falling demand from China and the U.S., the world’s two largest coal consumers, played a big role in coal’s decline. The shift toward cleaner energy sources such as natural gas also pushed global coal prices lower.

But coal is still a vital energy source for billions of people around the world. India relies on it for 62 percent of