Domestic coal demand to rise this year: Official
Saturday, January 4 2014 - 02:42 AM WIB
Domestic demand for coal this year is projected to increase by 32.6 percent to 95.5 million tons from 72 million tons last year, according to a senior government official.
Director General of Mineral and Coal R. Sukhyar said Friday that the stronger domestic demand, driven by higher consumption for power generation and by industries, will reduce export as the government expects lower or flat production this year.
As reported earlier, coal production in the world?s largest exporter of thermal coal reached 421 million tons last year, surpassing the government?s target of 391 million tons, of which 349 million tons went to the export market. The government plans to limit production this year in a bid to help support the lingering weak coal prices.
Edi Prasodjo, Coal Business Director at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, said that coal production this year was projected at 400 to 421 million tons. ?We use a conservative forecast of 400 million tons output for this year, and if it rises, it should not exceed last year?s production of 421 million tons,? he said Friday.
?For this year, we put priority on the domestic market,? he added.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak