Indonesia’s Reference Thermal Coal Price Hits All-time Low in September
Indonesia’s October benchmark thermal coal reference price (Harga Batubara Acuan, or HBA) was set at USD $57.39 per metric ton (FOB) by the Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, down 1.4 percent (m/m) from the preceding month and down 14.7 percent (y/y) from the same month last year. The October coal price is now at an all-time record low since the start of the government’s reference price in January 2009.
Indonesia’s monthly reference thermal coal price (HBA) is calculated by taking the average of the following four indices: the Platts Kalimantan (5,900 kcal/kg), the Argus-Indonesia Coal Index 1 (6,500 kcal/kg), the Newcastle Export Index (6,322 kcal/kg), and the global COAL Newcastle Index (6,000 kcal/kg). The HBA forms the basis for determining prices of 75 Indonesian coal products, sold domestically or abroad, as well as for the calculation of coal royalty payments.
Indonesia’s coal production declined 15.4 percent to 263 million tons in the January-August 2015 period (from 311 million tons in the same period last year) as Indonesian coal miners cut production amid low global coal prices.
Indonesia is the world’s fourth-largest coal producer with coal reserves mainly concentrated in South Sumatra, East Kalimantan, and South Kalimantan. In 2014 the country produced a total of 458 million tons of coal, down 3.4 percent from output in the preceding year.
Indonesian Production, Export and Consumption of Coal:
| 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | |
| Production | 217 | 240 | 254 | 275 | 353 | 412 | 474 | 458 |
| Export | 163 | 191 | 198 | 210 | 287 | 345 | 402 | 382 |
| Domestic | 61 | 49 | 56 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 72 | 76 |
in million tons
Source: Indonesian Coal Mining Association (APBI)