The Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX: WHC) share price had a rough first day of 2023 trading.
Whitehaven shares closed down 6.26% at $8.83 apiece. For perspective, the S&P/ASX 200 Energy Index (ASX: XEJ) finished 1.33% lower today.
Let's take a look at what might have been impacting the Whitehaven Coal share price today.
What's going on?
Whitehaven was not the only ASX coal share to decline today. New Hope Corporation Ltd (ASX: NHC) shares finished 8.49% lower, while Coronado Global Resources (ASX: CRN) shares closed 4.77% in the red. Yancoal Australia Ltd (ASX: YAL) shares also dropped 4.95%.
The coal price fell 3.6% in a day to US$389.60 a tonne, Trading Economics data shows.
Milder-than-expected weather in Europe could be weighing on the coal price. Seven European countries recorded their warmest January day on record on New Year's day, the Washington Post reported.
It comes as European nations, including Germany, have been turning to coal for power generation in 2023 amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported.
The natural gas price also tumbled 7% overnight. Natural gas is also used to generate electricity.
Whitehaven operates four coal mines in New South Wales and is developing two assets in Queensland.
A federal Department of Industry report recently predicted thermal coal prices to fall from US$360 a tonne in FY22 to around US$200 a tonne in FY24.
The report from the office of the department's chief economist also predicts metallurgical coal prices to drop from US$377 a tonne in the 2022 financial year to US$230 a tonne in FY24.
Meanwhile, the team at Macquarie has put an outperform rating on the Whitehaven share price with a $12.50 price target, my Foolish colleague James reported today.
Share price snapshot
The Whitehaven Coal share price has soared 238% in the last year.
Whitehaven has a market capitalisation of about $7.9 billion based on the latest share price.
