The Indonesian government set its coal benchmark price (HBA) for August at $50.34/t, notching the lowest since January 2009, the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry said in a statement on August 5.
The price has been declining for five months running and down 3.49% from $52.16/t in July. It was also 30.73% lower compared with a year ago.
Major buyers China and India prioritized purchase of domestic coal to replace imported coal, as power plants held high stockpiles and the coronavirus pandemic has reduced some imported coal demand, said the statement.
The HBA is a monthly average price based 25% each on Platts Kalimantan 5,900 kcal/kg GAR assessment, Argus-Indonesia Coal Index 1 (6,500 Kcal/kg GAR), Newcastle Export Index (6,322 Kcal/kg GAR) and globalCOAL Newcastle (6,000 Kcal/kg NAR).
The HBA price for thermal coal is the basis for determining the prices of 77 Indonesian coal products and calculating the royalty producers have to pay for each tonne of coal sold.
It is based on 6,322 Kcal/kg GAR coal with 8% total moisture content, 15% ash as received, and 0.8% sulfur as received.
(Writing by Jessie Jia Editing by Harry Huo)
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