PT Bukit Asam to raise coal output

PT Bukit Asam to raise coal output

JAKARTA (JP): The state-owned coal mining company PT Tambang
Batubara Bukit Asam has said it plans to raise its coal output to
12.1 million tons this year from 10.1 million tons last year.

Company president R.A. Sunardi said late on Monday that last
year the company had to curtail output to 10.1 million tons after
originally planning to extract 11.8 million tons because of
sluggish demand in both foreign and domestic markets.

"The Suralaya power plant, which was expected to use eight
million tons of our coal last year, only required 6.9 million
tons," Sunardi said at a gathering to break the fast.

The Suralaya power plant in West Java is owned by state
electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN).

Bukit Asam sells 70 percent of its coal to Suralaya and
exports the rest to overseas markets, including Malaysia,
Thailand and the Philippines.

Sunardi also said that Bukit Asam coal exports decreased to
1.71 million tons last year from 1.87 million tons in 1997 as a
result of the regional economic crisis.

Sunardi said Bukit Asam had now turned its attention to new
overseas markets which were less affected by the regional
recession, including Taiwan, Europe, the United States and
Turkey.

Sunardi refused to disclose the company's 1998 profits, but
said that last year the company paid a total of Rp 298.27 billion
to the government in taxes, royalties and dividends, an increase
on the Rp 144.2 billion paid in 1997. This year, he said, the
company expects to pay Rp 309.26 billion in taxes, royalties and
dividends.

Sunardi said that Bukit Asam was seeking to raise the price of
coal it sells to the Suralaya power plant to Rp 167,000 per ton.
The current price, Rp 93,000, is below the production cost, he
explained.

"We also need to raise the price we sell coal for because the
government has said that we are going to be privatized.

"Investors will value the company below its true value if we
continue to sell coal to Suralaya at the current price," he
added.

Bukit Asam is one of a number of state-owned companies that
the government has said it will privatize during the coming
fiscal year to raise funds to finance the budget deficit.

Sunardi said that Bukit Asam plans to reduce sales to the
Suralaya power plant by 20 percent to allow it to increase
exports.

He also said Bukit Asam was planning closer cooperation with
state railway company Perumka to increase the capacity of the
rail link between Bukit Asam's mine in Tanjung Enim, South
Sumatra, with Lampung's Tarahan port. (jsk)