Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources set its January thermal coal reference price, also known as Harga Batubara Acuan, at a record low for the ninth consecutive month at $53.20/mt FOB, the lowest ever recorded since its inception in January 2009.
January's HBA price represents a drop of 0.6% from the December price, which was set at $53.51/mt, representing an all-time low at that time. On a year-on-year basis, the HBA fell 16.7%.
The HBA is a monthly average price based 25% on the Platts Kalimantan 5,900 kcal/kg gross as received assessment; 25% on the Argus-Indonesia Coal Index 1 (6,500 kcal/kg GAR); 25% on the Newcastle Export Index -- formerly the Barlow-Jonker index (6,322 kcal/kg GAR) of Energy Publishing -- and 25% on the globalCOAL Newcastle (6,000 kcal/kg NAR) index.
In December, the daily FOB Platts Kalimantan 5,900 kcal/kg GAR coal assessment averaged $47.66/mt, while the daily 90-day Platts Newcastle FOB price for coal with a calorific value of 6,300 kcal/kg GAR averaged $52.10/mt.
The HBA for thermal coal is the basis for determining the prices of 75 Indonesian coal products and for calculating the royalties Indonesian producers have to pay for each metric ton of coal they sell locally or overseas.
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.
