Indonesia’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources set its September thermal coal reference price — also known as Harga Batubara Acuan, or HBA — at $150.03/mt, the highest since the government started tracking prices in January 2009, helped by strong China demand, a ministry spokesperson said Sept. 8.
The ministry had set the HBA for August at $130.99/mt and September 2020 at $49.42/mt.
“This is quite a phenomenal number in the last decade. China’s high demand exceeds its domestic production capacity,” ministry spokesperson Agung Pribadi told S&P Global Platts.
The HBA was also influenced by increasing demand from South Korea and Europe, along with high natural gas prices, Pribadi said.
The HBA is a monthly average price based 25% each on Platts Kalimantan 5,900 kcal/kg GAR assessments, Argus-Indonesia Coal Index 1 (6,500 kcal/kg GAR), Newcastle Export Index (6,322 kcal/kg GAR), and globalCOAL Newcastle (6,000 kcal/kg NAR).
In August, the daily FOB Kalimantan 5,900 kcal/kg GAR coal assessment averaged $126.276/mt, up from $106.476/mt in July, Platts data showed.
The HBA price for thermal coal is the basis for determining the prices of 77 Indonesian coal products and calculating the amount of royalty producers have to pay for each metric ton of coal sold. It is based on 6,322 kcal/kg GAR coal with 8% total moisture content, 15% ash as received, and 0.8% sulfur as received.
Source: Platts