Indonesia sets coal benchmark price for April at USD 94.75/MT, a 7.14 % decline from USD 101.86/MT in March, the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry said on its website.
The ministry didn’t give reason for the decline.
Hendra Sinadia, executive director at the Indonesian Mining Coal Association, said prices fall because demand for winter heating has waned as weather is getting warmer.
“It’s a seasonal factor. Prices were higher during winter and now it starts to slow,” Sinadia said. Slowing Chinese consumption also weighed on coal prices, he said.
Reuters reported on Tuesday, April 3, that China’s Fujian Province has temporarily banned foreign coal imports into the Luoyan port from April 1. It’s the country’s latest move to curbs imports of the power-station fuel.
Elsewhere, Indonesian coal with heating value 4200 GAR is offered steady at USD 42-43/MT, FOB vessel from Kalimantan, this week, two traders said. Trades said buyers aren’t rushing to buy coal as they still have sufficient stockpiles.
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