May 16 (Bloomberg) -- Wesfarmers Ltd., the Australian retailer with businesses from supermarkets to mining, more than tripled the price it charges for coking coal from the Curragh mine amid rising global demand from steelmakers.

Australia's second-biggest retailer will get prices as high as $300 a metric ton, Perth-based Wesfarmers said today in a statement. Output from the mine in Queensland state will be within the company's forecast of 6.1 million to 6.5 million metric tons in the 12 months ending June 30, Wesfarmers said.

Coking coal prices have surged as floods in Queensland's Bowen Basin region disrupted supplies from mines which provide about 40 percent of the world's steelmaking coal. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world's largest producer of coking coal, and Nippon Steel Corp. agreed last month to a threefold increase in contract prices to $300 a ton.

Demand from customers in the second half remains ``very strong,'' Stewart Butel, managing director of Wesfarmers Resources said in the statement. The company was ``satisfied'' with the outcome of the pricing talks with customers, he said.

Wesfarmers rose 25 cents, or 0.6 percent, to A$40 at the 4:10 p.m. Sydney time close on the exchange.

Coal production from the Bowen Basin region this year may decline by as much as 15 million tons, Macquarie Bank Ltd. analyst Jim Lennon said in a May 5 report. Meanwhile, global demand for steel will rise 6.7 percent this year, led by an 11.5 percent increase from China, according to the Brussels-based International Iron and Steel Institute.

Prices for coking coal may rise again next year because of the extent of the flooding damage in Australia. Coal supplies are ``likely to remain extremely tight over the next 2-3 years,'' and the price may increase to more than $350 a ton in 2009, Credit Suisse Group analysts said in an April 28 report.