The Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has set its thermal coal benchmark price (HBA) for January at USD 65.93/MT, which’s a slight decrease from the previous month.
Notably, this current reference price is lower by 0.6% on a month-to-month basis, as compared to USD 66.30/MT in the previous month of December 2019.
More importantly, it is lower by 28.7% on a year-to-year basis, as compared to USD 92.41/MT in the month of January 2019.
Tightened Chinese import restrictions have limited any potential upside to seaborne thermal coal demand in winter, according to a ministry spokesman.
The Indonesian thermal coal benchmark price has mostly declined every month after attaining a record high of USD 107.83/MT in August 2018. Since September 2018, the HBA had fallen gradually to hit a record low of USD 64.80/MT in October 2019.
The HBA price for thermal coal, locally known as Harga Batubara Acuan, is the basis for determining the prices of 77 Indonesian coal products and calculating the royalty amount required to be paid by producers for each metric ton of coal sold.
It is based on 6,322 kcal/kg GAR coal with 8% total moisture content, 15% ash and 0.8% sulfur as received.
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