Coal prices per ton delivered have gone up double or more in the past year in the Panther Valley area.

A new price went into effect today, with the price of coal being increased either $2.50 or $3 per ton, depending on its size.

Coal dealers throughout the valley were notified in a letter from the Lehigh Navigation Dodson Company, Bethlehem, that stove and egg coal will be increased $3 a ton to $45, and $2.50 a ton to $40 for chestnut, pea, buck, rice and barley.

This is the fourth new price increase since September, 1973, when a ton of rice, barley, pea and buckwheat coal cost $22.50 a ton delivered.