Coal output to reach 150 million tons in 2005
Coal output to reach 150 million tons in 2005
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
With demand from domestic and overseas markets on the rise, the
country's oil output for 2005 is expected increase by 18 percent
from last year, to 150 million tons.
Of that total, some 70 percent would be exported, Ministry of
Energy and Mineral Resources official Mahyudin Lubis said on
Thursday.
"Most coal mining firms here are increasing their production
capacity for this year and boosting the output to 150 million
tons -- from 127 million tons in 2004," Mahyudin said.
An example was PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC), the nation's
largest coal producer, which he said would boost its output to up
to 25 million tons from 22 tons recorded in 2004 with the average
price of US$50 a ton.
"KPC's coal price is actually above the average, and not all
coal has the quality of KPC's, which can be sold at about $20 to
$25 per ton," he said.
Aside from KPC, another coal mining firm PT Adaro is predicted
to meet its production target of 28 million tons this year,
making it the second-largest coal producer in Indonesia.
Indonesia's coal industry is expected to substantially grow
with the government planning to construct and develop nine more
coal-fired power plants by 2009 to safeguard the country's power
supplies.
The first of such projects, located in Banten province, will
be put onto an open tender in March.
The increasing domestic demand is also in line with the upward
trend in overseas demand, with Japan and China -- among the
world's largest coal importers -- having shown interest in
increasing their coal import from Indonesia.
Japan-based Chubu Electric Power Co. Ltd. has said that it
would gradually boost coal imports from Indonesia.
Mahyudin estimated that demand from Japan could rise by about
5 percent this year.
"Currently, Japan is the largest importer of our coal, along
with South Korea, India and Malaysia," he said.
Meanwhile, PT Aneka Tambang, a gold and nickel mining company
which is 65 percent owned by the government, expects nickel
output to rise by 28 percent this year.
Production may rise to 10,150 metric tons from 7,945 tons last
year, the company Corporate Secretary Ashur Wasif said in a
statement as quoted by Bloomberg.
Base metal prices soared during the past year as economic
growth in China and the U.S. spurred demand and drained
stockpiles, helping boost earnings of Aneka Tambang and other
miners. Prices of nickel, a material for stainless steel, has
risen by 12 percent in the past 12 months and with gold having
risen by more than 7 percent.