Indonesia’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has set the benchmark coal price or locally known as Harga Batubara Acuan (HBA) at USD 88.85/MT in Apr’19, Kontan newspaper reported citing a government data.
The price of the commodity continue to decline for the eight straight month, from its peak recorded at USD 107.83/MT in August last year. Price in Apr’19 had slipped 2% on the month from USD 90.57/MT in Mar’19.
Government officials including Bambang Gatot Ariyono, attributed the continued decline in coal prices to various factors including the supply and demand market mechanism.
While Hendra Sinadia, executive director of the Indonesian Coal Mining Association (APBI) blamed the Chinese coal market for the price fall.
Sinadia said that price of Indonesian coal with low calorific value was inconsistent in the Chinese market.
Citing examples of the price swing, Sinadia added that the price of low calorific value coal was at USD 40/MT in Feb’19 and mid Mar’19. But then, the prices fell to USD 35-36/MT in the last weeks of Mar’19.
On top of that, the price of coal with high calorific value was also affected in Chinese market during late Mar’19 to early Apr’19, prompting the price of Indonesia coal to fall, Sinadia said.
APBI’s Sinadia said that Indonesian coal prices had been declining since Aug’18 and have reached below USD 90/MT in Apr’19.
He claimed that the current situation has led to oversupply in the Indonesian coal market, which needs to be regulated by a control in coal production from the domestic miners.
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