Domestic coal consumption up 8.23%

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources reported that domestic coal consumption increased by 8.23 percent in the first semester of this year compared to the corresponding period of last year amid higher demand from power plants.

Investor Daily quoted ministry spokesman Sujatmiko as saying Wednesday that the absorption of coal domestic market obligation (DMO) in the first six months of this year reached 25.52 million tons, compared to 23.58 million tons in the same period of last year.

He said that the higher DMO absorption was driven by demand particularly from the power sector following the operation of a number of new coal-fired power plants such as the CelukanBawang plant in Bali.

He said that about 80 percent of domestic coal consumption comes from power plant sector, followed by cement 10 percent, and the other 10 percent comes from various industries such as fertilizer. He added that there was also stronger demand from the industries.

Sujatmiko said that the realized DMO data only come from coal miners holding the so-called coal contracts of work (or PKP2B), which account for about 80 percent of production, while data from miners holding the IUP mining business permits have yet to be consolidated.

Sujatmiko said export volume in the first semester of this year fell by 31.6 percent to 80.22 million tons from 117.33 million tons in the corresponding period of last year. (*)