Bukit Asam to up sales forecast

PT Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam will increase its full-year sales forecast as the state-controlled Indonesian coal producer gets higher than expected prices for the fuel, The Jakarta Post reported on Wednesday.

Rising global consumption and lower exports from China, the world?s biggest coal user and producer, have boosted prices of the fuel. The global-COAL NEWC Index for immediate delivery from Newcastle, Australia, averaged US$48.35 a metric ton in February, a 23 percent increase from $39.16 in December.

Indonesia overtook Australia in 2005 as the world?s largest exporter of thermal coal, used to generate electricity. Almost all of Indonesia?s exported coal is of the thermal variety. The company last year forecast sales of Rp 3.6 trillion ($392 million) for 2006.

?We?ll revise the forecast as we are getting prices higher than we estimated in December,? Corporate Secretary Milawarma said in an interview yesterday. (*)