Bumi's net profit surges 66.2 percent on higher coal production

Publicly-listed mining company PT Bumi Resources Tbk. reported a 66.2 percent increase in net profit in 2006 to about US$200 million from about US$123.3 million in the previous year.

The company attributed the sharp increase in the 2006 net earning to the surge in the coal production, which rose by 19 percent to 53.5 million tons during the year from about 45 million tons in 2005.

The significant increase in the earning was also possible due to the relatively higher coal prices, which reached an average of about US$40.80 per ton in 2006 as compared to US$40.12 per ton in the previous year.

The company's corporate secretary Georad Jusuf said in Jakarta Monday that with the increase in the coal production, the company also managed to boost the coal shipment to 50.57 million tons from 44.9 million tons in the previous year.

As the result, the total sales also rose to 50 million tons, a 13 percent increase from 44.4 million tons in 2005, he said, adding that about 6.2 million tons of the 2006 coal production were used as stocks to anticipate a lower production level due to the rainy season during the first semester of 2007.

Bumi operates the two major coal mining PT Arutmin Indonesia in South Kalimantan and PT Kaltim Prima Coal in East Kalimantan.(godang)