Asian coal exports still too low: Kadin

Coal exports from Asian countries including Indonesia are still too low compared to their high coal reserves, according to an executive of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin).

Soy Martua, the chamber's vice chairman for international affairs, said on Monday that the Asian coal exports were only about 25 percent to 30 percent of their potency as most of the coal producers in the region still faced difficulties in raising the funds to support their mining activities, Suara Karya reported.

He acknowledged that the financial institutions were still reluctant to inject their funds into the mining companies because the coal as source of energy was still less popular compared to oil and gas.

Exports are limited only to some Asian countries such as Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand and Malaysia. "The export of coal never goes to Europe because exporters face difficulties in transportation," he said, adding that European countries also preferred to use oil or gas rather than coal in order to reduce pollution. (*)