Indonesia's Bumi Resources Full-Year Profit Rises

Indonesia's Bumi Resources Full-Year Profit Rises

Bloomberg/Jakarta

PT Bumi Resources, Indonesia's biggest coal exporter, said net income last year surged tenfold from the year-earlier period, helped by an increase in production and higher coal prices.

Net income for the year ended Dec. 31 jumped to Rp 1.21 trillion rupiah (US$125 million), or Rp 62 a share, from Rp 107.6 billion, or Rp 5.54 a share, the company said in an e- mailed statement today. Sales increased to Rp 9.81 trillion from Rp 3.86 trillion, the statement said.

Coal prices soared to records last year as China's economy expanded 9.5 percent, the most in eight years, prompting a surge in power demand. Bottlenecks on the country's over-stretched railway network delayed coal deliveries, pushing prices up further.

Coal prices may rise to records this year as port and rail disruptions limit exports and costs of alternative fuels soar, according to a Bloomberg survey in December.

Annual contract prices for thermal coal from Australia, the world's biggest exporter of the fuel burned in power plants, will climb to $52 a metric ton from about $45 this year, based on the median estimate of nine analysts. Contracts between Australian producers and Japanese utilities, due to take effect on April 1, are benchmarks for other markets.

Indonesia is the fourth-largest coal producer in the Asia Pacific region, behind China, Australia and India, according to BP Plc estimates. About 99 percent of the coal produced in Indonesia is thermal, used mostly in power plants.

Indonesia's exports of thermal coal rose 15 percent last year as rival China limited supplies, leading utilities to seek alternative suppliers and sending prices to a record. The nation produced 127 million metric tons of coal last year.

The globalCOAL NEWC Index of coal delivered from Australia's Newcastle port, the world's biggest coal-export port, jumped 33 percent last year to $53.48 a metric ton at the end of December.