Govt says coal output may be 20% less than target

By Thomas Sembiring

The Directorate General of Mineral and Coal at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources said that based on the latest evaluation, the country?s coal production this year may be 16-20 percent lower than the initial target of 245 million tons.

Director General of Mineral and Coal Bambang Gatot Ariyono said last week that many miners have revised downward their production targets due to the lingering drop in the price of the commodity.

?It (output) could be 16-20 percent lower than target,? Bambang told Petromindo.com, but stopped short of providing further details.

Last month, the directorate said Indonesia?s coal output in the January-July period of this year dropped by 15.28 percent compared to the corresponding period of last year amid the lingering weak global coal market.

Production in the first seven months of this year fell to 232.9 million tons from 274.9 million tons in the same period of last year.

The government has set coal production target of 425 million tons this year, 7.21 percent lower than last year?s 458 million tons.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak