COALspot.com -  Indonesian HBA fall again to lowest level since January 2011 in May 2012. The monthly coal reference price for coal sales in May fell 3.30%, the lowest dropped in last 17 Months.

The Ministry of Energy & Mineral Resources of Indonesia sets the coal’s spot price for May 2012 at US$ 102.12 per ton, US$ 3.49  lower than April 2012 Price.

This coal benchmark price was calculated based on calorific value of 6,322 kcal/kg (GAR), stated to be using formula based on the April 2012 index average of ICI-1 (Indonesia Coal Index) 25%, Platts-1 25%, NEX (Newcastle Export Index) 25%, and GC (globalCoal Index) 25%.

Assessment basis of coal price reference was calculated considering coal with GCV (GAR)  6,322 kcal/kg, Total Moisture (arb) 8.00%, Total Sulphur 0.8% (arb), Ash Content 15 % (arb) and  delivery free on Board (FOB) Vessel basis  and applicable for spot contract, delivery between 1 - 31 May 2012.

The government of Indonesia has been publishing a monthly coal reference price (HBA & HPB) since January 2009 to be used by coal producers for all spot and term contracts. However the full implementation of HBA has started only since September 2011.

The May 2012 HBA was 13.17% or $15.49 lower on Y-o-Y basis.

The price was only valid for the spot price (loading before 31 May 2012), while as for term price (up to 12 months supplies), the average reference price (HPB) of the previous 3 months will be used to determine the selling price. (50% of latest available month HPB, 30% of one month prior HPB and 20% of two months prior HPB).

Government also declared reference price for eight brands of Indonesia's coal, which are most commonly traded in the market. Those eight brands are acted as the benchmark and used to calculate other 61 coal types with a quality similar to the coal price markers.

For sales in barge, the reference price is reduced by barging and transshipment costs from barge to vessel.

The coal reference price, which has been established to fulfill the requirement of mining law 04/2009 and latest ministerial decree 17/2010 and also aims to increase government revenue from royalties from coal producers. According to industry, all existing coal supply agreements with Indonesian coal mining companies have  revised to comply with new coal pricing regulation, which was fully implemented on 23 September 2011.

The Indonesian government is also expecting to introduce a coal export duty for coal in near future. According to officials, the proposal is in discussion among the high level officers to determine the percentage of duty. There will be two different types of duty could be introduced such as lower duty for higher calorific value coal and higher duty for unprocessed lower calorific value.

The government also has recently introduced export duty for unprocessed minerals but coal was missing in the recent regulation. Indonesian coal producers were asked to add value for their product such as washing, crashing, blending and upgrading to have a higher-value product prior to eye on the export market and avoid proposed export ban.

In coming months Indonesian coal industry can see  number of new regulations.

Click here for complete details of  Indonesian coal reference prices since January 2009.(cs)