Banpu reports slight decline in coal sales volume from RI unit

By Ruli Setiawan

Thai conglomerate Banpu Pcl reported Wednesday that its Indonesian coal unit IDX-listed PT Indo Tambangraya Megah Tbk (ITMG) delivered sales volume of 28.97 million tons last year, slightly lower than 29.16 million tons in 2013 amid the lingering weak global coal market.

The company said that its average selling price of US$67.26 per ton last year was 10 percent lower than $74.95 per ton in the previous year.

ITMG has five coal mine units including PT Indominco Mandiri, PT Trubaindo Coal Mining, PT. Bharinto Ekatama, PT. Kitadin and PT Jorong Barutama Greston.

Elsewhere, Banpu said ITMG adjusted mine plans to increase efficiency and reduce cost, which led to the lower average stripping ratio of 9.76 times compared to 11.50 times in the previous year.

?Meanwhile, the falling of diesel market price became another major cost reduction of the year since diesel price was above $1 per liter in first 3 quarters and then dropped to $0.82 per liter in the last quarter,? the company said.

Additionally, cost reduction program was also emphasized in coal handling and port management to minimize energy cost, streamline coal flows from mines to ports, and improve shipment scheduling to reduce port demurrage. As result of these, lTMG cost of goods sold was effectively reduced by 7 percent from 2013 to $44.68 per ton.

ITMG?s coal production, sales volume performance

	2014	2013
Production (M tonnes)
Indominco - West Block	2.29	4.38
Indominco - East Block	12.55	10.52
Trubaindo	7.52	7.21
Bharinto	3.00	1.56
Jorong	1.33	1.29
Kitadin - Embalut	1.24	1.05
Kitadin - Tandung Mayang	1.92	2.53
Total	29.85	28.55
Coal sales volume (M tonnes)
Indominco - West Block	2.12	4.27
Indominco - East Block	13.15	10.66
Trubaindo	6.92	7.79
Bharinto	2.45	1.65
Jorong	1.23	1.25
Kitadin - Embalut	1.24	1.07
Kitadin - Tandung Mayang	1.86	2.47
Total	28.97	29.16

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak