JAKARTA. Through the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), the Indonesian government announced the coal reference price of January 2022 depletes 0.8% to USD 158.50 per ton from USD 159.79 per ton.
This decrease is triggered by the recovered coal production in China. “The Chinese government attempted to boost its coal production to meet its local demands, which resulted in the increased domestic coal supply,” Agung Pribadi, the Head of Communication Bureau of the Ministry of ESDM, explained.
This is the second consecutive decline of coal reference price after continuous increases from February to November 2021. The first dip was recorded in December 2021.
In addition to the increased coal production in China, the coal reference price in January 2022 gets lower due to the supply and demand in the global market. Moreover, there are other factors that influence the coal reference price, such as weather, domestic electricity needs, and policies of coal importers.
Recently, the Indonesian government decided to halt coal exports throughout January 2022. This policy is claimed to help to maintain the coal supply so that it would be ready to be utilised by domestic power plants. (KR/ZH)