2013 national coal output estimate 370m tons, ICMA

By Cepi Setiadi

Indonesia Coal Mining Association (ICMA) predicts that national coal production in 2013 will be at the conservative level of 370 million tons. ICMA Executive Director Supriatna Suhala told Petromindo.com that in 2013 there will be an oversupply of coal in the market. "There will be more coal mines, not only in Indonesia but also in other countries, and we all will share the market," Supriatna said, adding that several countries such as Mongolia, Canada, Mozambique, New Zealand, Australia and USA would all be throwing their production to the international market.

"Especially USA, since they empower their shale gas, hence their coal production are marketed to the international market, and this is an anomaly," he said. Moreover, Supriatna said, Germany is currently giving the incentive for its underground mining due to the plan of government to shut down its nuclear power plant. "They will be back to using coal to fuel their power plant," he said.

Supriatna explained that there will be the demand for coal will be increasing but the the supply will be much bigger than the growing demand. "So for the next two years, the national coal production will be at the level of about 400 million tonnes," he ended. Last year the national coal production was about 350 million tons.

Editing by Er Audy Zandri