Indonesia’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources stated that the country’s coal production as of April this year reached 187 million tons (MnT), which’s equivalent to 34 percent of the full-year target of 550 MnT.
Director of Coal Management and Development at the ministry, Sujatmiko said that the four-month production performance remains in line with the government’s target.
“Nevertheless, the realized output is down by 5 percent as compared to the production in the corresponding period of 2019”, he said.
Sujatmiko said that realized coal domestic market obligation (DMO) in the first quarter of this year stood at 31.53 MnT, or about 20.34 percent of the full-year DMO volume target of 155 MnT.
He said that of the realized DMO volume, about 25.6 MnT were absorbed by the power plant sector, while 5.93 MnT by other domestic industries.
Under existing coal DMO regulation, coal miners in the country are obliged to allocate at least 25 percent of their annual coal output for the domestic market including power plant sector and other industries.
Sudjatmiko explained that the threat of coal price correction in the global market is believed to have begun to affect domestic coal production and sales.
“If the Covid-19 pandemic continues, domestic coal demand is expected to fall by around 5 percent”, he said.
Although the impact of the coronavirus pandemic has had an effect on performance this year, Sujatmiko ensured that the ministry would not adopt a policy of changing targets.
“The government continues to monitor the conditions and situation of national coal mining production operations in order to remain smooth in accordance with the existing situation and dynamics”, he said.
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