Fri, 12 Nov 2010

Kotabaru, S Kalimantan (ANTARA News) - The South Kalimantan town of Kotabaru`s coal exports up to September 2010 reached 31.5 million metric tons worth 1.744 billion US dollars.

Head of the Kotabaru trade and export division of the trade, investment and market management agency, Ratnawati, said here Thursday that the export of several commodities including coal from Kotabaru had been fluctuating.

This condition was caused by several factors including extreme weather conditions, such as heavy rains, disrupting coal field operations and market share.

Coal exports in January reached 3.9 million tons with worth estimated at 219 million US dollars, and in February reached 3.68 million tons worth 199 million dollars.

Exports of the `black gold` in March reached 4.1 million tons with worth estimated at 224 million dollars, in April 3.6 million tons worth 210 million dollars, and in May 3.7 million tons with worth estimated at 210 million dollars.

In June it reached 3.9 million tons worth 224 million dollars, and in July reached 2.8 million tons worth 156 million dollars.

In August, the exports reached 3 million tons worth 152 million dollars, but in September dropped to 2.5 million tons estimated at only 146 million dollars.

Head of the Kotabaru mining and energy agency H Akhmad Rivai added that the coal exports were dominated by the production of holders of coal mining work contracts(PKP2B), like PT Arutmin Indonesia, and PT Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku.

"And the biggest export destinations are still China, India, Philippines, Japan, Croatia, Italy, Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

On a different occasion, Rivai said the unstable coal production will affect the earnings of the regions, as the contribution of revenue from the mining sector to the budget of Kotabaru 2010 reached only Rp369.8 billion, or 49.89 pct of the total revenue of the regional budget reaching Rp741 billion.