The price of liquefied natural gas (LNG) has increased due to a surge in the spot price of LNG, driven by higher quality grades that can substitute for natural gas in power generation. LNG for delivery to North Asia jumped 116% to a two-year high of $22.50 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) in the week ended March 6, according to commodity price reporting agency Argus. The surge in LNG prices has opened the window for gas-to-coal switching in Japan and South Korea, two Asian countries with the largest ability to arbitrage between the fuels used to generate electricity. However, the price of thermal coal heading to Europe also increased, with McCloskey assessing 6,000 kcal/kg coal from South Africa's Richards Bay port at $113.00 a ton, up 14.3% from $98.90 on February 27. Despite these gains, there is no threat to the supply of coal from major exporters such as Australia, South Africa, Indonesia, and Colombia, as well as Japan, analysts DBX Commodities have noted that there is limited economic viability due to the lack of available coal-fired capacity in Europe.