Coal miners face difficulties to buy new equipment: APBI

Many coal miners of the country are unable to meet the surge in coal demand both from domestic and foreign buyers due to a difficulty in procuring new equipment such as excavators, bulldozers and dump trucks, Kontan reported Wednesday.

Supriatna Sahala, the executive director of the Indonesian coal mining association (APBI), said in Jakarta on Tuesday that the difficulty in procuring new equipment had begun since the end of last year as distributors were unable to meet the surge in demand.

?A coal miner could for example wait for a year to buy a dump truck,? he said, adding that the condition would likely continue within the next few months as local distributors still relied mostly on imports to meet the local demand.

He said the surge in demand for heavy equipment was in line with the sharp increase in coal production in the country.

Meanwhile, Sara Loebis, corporate secretary of PT United Tractors (UT), the country's largest heavy equipment distributor, said shipment of Komatsu heavy equipment from Japan to Indonesia would experience a delay.

Komatsu said in its website that four manufacturing plants were damaged by the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan last week. Damage at the Hitachinaka port will also affect shipment of Komatsu's equipment to outside Japan.

Based on research by Philip Securities, this year, the demand for heavy equipment from the mining sector reached 4,673 units, 13 percent higher than 4,133 units last year. In 2009, the demand for heavy equipment from the mining sector was only 3,175 units.

Last year, Indonesia?s coal production totaled between 300 and 320 million tonnes, exceeding the target of 275 million tonnes. This year, the coal production is expected to increase to 340 million tonnes. (*)