No growth in LNG, coal exports to Taiwan

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Mines and Energy Kuntoro Mangkusubroto said on Tuesday Indonesia's liquefied natural gas (LNG) and coal exports to Taiwan were expected to remain stagnant this year.

"The export of both commodities to Taiwan is expected to remain the same as last year," Kuntoro said after attending an annual energy meeting with Taiwan's Minister of Economics Wang Chih-kang.

He said Taiwan's import of LNG from Indonesia reached 1.92 million tons last year, a 19 percent increase from 1997.

The country imported 10 million tons of coal from Indonesia in 1998, a 10 percent increase from the previous year.

"We don't see any indications that Taiwan will reduce their import of either commodity. Nor do we see any indications it will move to other producers," Kuntoro said.

Taiwan is the third largest importer of LNG from Indonesia, after Japan and South Korea.

State oil and gas company Pertamina earlier said Japan and South Korea had announced they would reduce their LNG imports to cope with the continuing economic crisis in the region.

Kuntoro said Indonesia and Taiwan's delegations would "exchange information on the latest technical developments in the energy sector" during the four-day annual energy conference which is taking place from Monday to Friday.

Under its one-China policy, Indonesia has no political ties with Taiwan but both countries maintain economic relationships.

Taiwanese investment in Indonesia totaled US$162 million last year, down from $3.4 billion in 1997.

Many Taiwanese businesspeople fled Indonesia or suspended their investments in the country following the riots last May which led to the downfall of former president Soeharto. During the riots, the Chinese-Indonesian community was hit particularly hard by the violence.

Taiwan suffered a trade deficit of $1.52 billion with Indonesia last year due mainly to its import of LNG and oil from Indonesia. (jsk)