Govt sets mineral export reference price for April

The Ministry of Trade unveiled on Wednesday the export reference price (better known as HPE) of mineral concentrates for the period of April, most of which were lower compared to the HPE in March.

The HPE of copper concentrate for April was set at an average price of US$1,891.99 per wet metric ton, down 0.06 percent.

The HPE of iron ore concentrates (hematite, magnetite, and pyrite) averaged $87.86 per WMT, down 2.27 percent; HPE of iron ore concentrates (gutit and laterite) was set at an average $38.35 per WMT, down 10.58 percent; and lead concentrate at an average of $862.32 per WMT, down 2.04 percent.

Meanwhile, the HPE of manganese concentrate increased by 0.85 percent to an average of $193.23, and zinc concentrate rose by 1.90 percent to an average of $494.25 per WMT.

The export reference price will be used by the government as the basis in calculating the export duty of mineral concentrates. The government introduced on January 12 of this year export ban on mineral ores in a bid to generate greater value added from mineral commodities by forcing miners to process the ores at home first. But certain so-called mineral concentrates including copper, zinc, lead, manganese, iron ore, ilmenite, and titanium are still allowed to be sold overseas until 2017 as long as they meet the minimum purity requirement and pay export tax.

The export reference price is determined by using a formula based on several benchmark prices including from the London Metal Exchange, Asian Metal, and FOB prices.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak