Indonesia’s Coal Benchmark Gains Most Since February

The Indonesian government raised the reference price for coal sales in December by 8.3 percent from a month earlier, the steepest increase since it was introduced in February, the energy ministry said. 

The price benchmark for coal with a gross energy value of 6,322 kilocalories a kilogram was raised to $103.41 a metric ton this month from $95.51 a ton in November, the Directorate General of Coal and Minerals at the energy ministry said in a statement on its website today. 

Below is a list of price references and markers, used to calculate prices for other coal types of similar quality from eight leading coal brands in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, as compiled by the energy ministry. Grades are in kilocalories a kilogram, while prices are in U.S. dollars a ton. 

Indonesia is the world’s largest exporter of the fuel after Australia.

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                      Dec.    Nov.     Oct.     Sept.      Aug.
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Price Reference     103.41   95.51    92.68     90.05     94.86
Month-on-Month (%)    8.27    3.05     2.92     -5.07     -1.85
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Price Markers
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    Coal Brand     Quality                Prices
                                           Dec.      Nov.     Oct.     Sept.
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Gunung Bayan 1       7,000   111.41    102.86    99.79     96.94
Prima Coal             6,700   108.43    100.42    97.55     94.88
Pinang 6150            6,200    97.70     90.50    87.92     85.52
Indominco IM_East   5,700    84.18     77.79    75.50     73.38
Melawan Coal         5,400    78.61     72.93    70.89     68.99
Envirocoal             5,000    72.02     67.00    65.20     63.53
Jorong J-1             4,400    58.10     54.04    52.58     51.23
Ecocoal                 4,200    52.52     48.91    47.61     46.41
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Note: - Percentage changes calculated by Bloomberg News - The price reference is an average of the Indonesia Coal Index, Platts-1, Newcastle Export Index and the globalCOAL NEWC Index from the previous month. - The average of price reference for the last three months is used to set prices for a one-year contract for the following year. - For sales in barge, the reference price is excluding cost of barging and transshipment into vessel.Source: Bloomberg