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* ARA February contract down $1.15 at $86.25 a tonne
* Colombia halt to Drummond exports drove rally
LONDON, Jan 10 (Reuters) - European physical coal prices dipped on Friday after a two-day rally driven by Colombia's unexpected halt to exports by U.S. coal miner Drummond, in a move expected to put pressure on supply.
The price of coal for delivery in February into Europe's main terminals in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Antwerp (ARA) was $86.25 a tonne at 1458 GMT on the globalCOAL trading platform, down $1.15 from yesterday's settlement price.
Physical prices had been on the rise since Wednesday afternoon when Colombia unexpectedly halted Drummond exports of coal until it sets up a new ship-loading system.
"There was room for a downward correction. The Colombia saga lifted prices for a couple of days but before that physical prices were bearish," a coal trader said.
Colombia is an important coal supply source for European utilities in Germany and Britain, and South African cargoes from the Richards Bay terminal are expected to replace some of the lost Colombian supply.
South African cargoes for February delivery were trading $0.10 lower at $83.50 a tonne on Friday.
Last night, a source at Goldman Sachs-owned
The source said the company will need 16-18 months to build a conveyor belt that can stretch far offshore to load waiting ships to comply with the new law which took effect on Jan. 1.
In the Asia-Pacific market, China's coal import growth dropped by more than half from the year before to 13.4 percent in 2013, data released on Friday showed.
Industry experts have said China's pace of growth would likely weaken further as Beijing mulls setting higher standards on coal quality.
(Reporting by Nina Chestney, editing by David Evans)
Keywords: MARKETS COAL/PHYSICAL