Irvan Kamal Hakim, Director at Krakatau Steel (Indonesia’s largest steel manufacturer), said that the domestic steel industry is still affected by prolonged concerns about excess steel supply in China, the world's largest steel producer. Amid slowing economic growth in the world’s second-largest economy, domestic steel demand in China has declined resulting in a global oversupply of 525 million tons. Each 1 percent decline in GDP growth in China results in an additional oversupply of 24 million tons of steel.

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Indonesian coal exports seem not affected by the new licensing system - the ‘Listed Exporter’ status (Indonesian: Eksportir Terdaftar, ET) - that was implemented on 1 October 2014. Previously, it was feared that coal exports could plunge up to 20 percent in October as the new licensing system led to confusion. Various Indonesian mining companies said that they had difficulty to secure the new export permits. According to government data, Indonesian coal exports reached 31.4 million tons, up 22.2 percent from the previous month.

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Global oil prices fell on Wednesday - with US oil declining to a new four-year low - amid expectation that the OPEC will not take significant action in response to the declining oil prices. The price of benchmark US light sweet crude or West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in January fell USD $0.40 to USD $73.69 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest price level since September 2010, while the European benchmark, Brent crude for January delivery fell USD $0.58 to USD $77.75 a barrel in London trading.

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The Association of Indonesian Coffee Exporters and Industries (AEKI) expects coffee bean production in Indonesia to decline by about 11 percent to 650,000-670,000 tons in 2014, from 740,000 tons in the previous year. This decline is actually less severe than initially expected as weather conditions have improved in the main coffee bean growing regions on Sumatra. Meanwhile, output in 2015 is projected at 700,000 tons. Indonesia is currently the world’s third-largest coffee bean producer, after Brazil and Vietnam.

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