COALspot.com - The Ministry of Energy & Mineral Resources of Indonesia sets coal spot price benchmark for July 2011 at US$ 118.24 per ton, US$ 0.79 lesser than June 2011 Price.

This coal benchmark price was calcualted coal with calorie of 6,322kcal/kg (GAR), stated to be using formula based on the June 2011 index average of ICI-1 (Indonesia Coal Index), Platts-1, NEX (Newcastle Export Index), and GC (globalCoal Index).

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 July 2011.

The government of Indonesia has been publishing a monthly coal reference price (HBA & HPB) since February  2010 to be used by coal producers for all future spot and term contracts. The June HBA was 22.33 percent higher Y-o-Y.

The price was only valid for spot price, while as for term price, the average referance price (HPB) of the previous 3 months.(50% of last month HPB, 30% of a month earlier HPB and 20% of two months earlier HPB) for coal contract at least 12 months.

Government also declared reference price for eight brands of Indonesia's coal, which are most commonly traded in the market. Those eight brands are act as benchmark and used to calculate other 54 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 will have to be revised to comply with new coal pricing regulations before September 23, 2011.

As a result of the Indonesian new pricing formula, price of Indonesian coal will go up by $30 a tonne and lead to a INR 0.70  (Approx. US$ 0.015) per unit increase in cost of electricity generation, as quoted by an Indian paper.

Indonesian government also drafting a regulation to ban coal with calorific value below 5100 kcal/kg on air dried basis for the export market by 12 January 2014.  Indonesian coal producers were asked to add value for their product such as washing, crishing, blending and upgrading to have higher-value product prior to eye on the export market.

Raw coal export will also be restricted.

Indonesian physical coal prices also seem to be soft this week due to less demand from chinese buyers. Coal miner PT Bayan Resources Tbk, has recently entered into a conditional sales and purchase agreement to supply 100 million metric tons of low sulphur coal for 15 years commencing on 2015 to an Indian company.

Click here for complete details of  Indonesian coal reference prices since Feb 2010.(cs)