BA, Taiwan sign deal

JAKARTA (JP): State coal mining company PT Bukit Asam has signed a seven-year contract to supply Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) with 500,000 metric tons of coal per year from its mining field in Tanjung Enim, South Sumatra.

Bukit Asam said in a statement on Thursday the contract was the largest individual export agreement ever made by the company.

The South Sumatra-based company exports coal to several Japanese companies, including Kobe Steel, Nippon Steel, Nakayama Steel, Chube Electric and Malaysian power company Tenaga Nasionale.

The company's coal is sold on the overseas market at between US$27.75 and $29 per ton.

In order to boost its exports, the company plans to increase its annual output to 15 million tons of coal in 2003 from 12.8 million tons this year.

It had earlier announced that it would increase its exports to 2.8 million tons, or 22 percent of this year's projected output, from 1.9 million tons, or 18 percent of output, in 1997. (jsk)