Govt to evaluate coal benchmark price formula

By Tri Subhki Rakgmatullah

Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR) will evaluate the coal benchmark price (HBA) formula amid the downturn of coal price in the market, according to Deputy Director of Coal Production Supervision and Marketing at MEMR Gultom Gushka..

"We will evaluate the possible use of other coal price indexes (for the HBA) instead of the current four indexes," he said on Tuesday.

The current formula is calculated based on four indexes, namely Indonesia Coal Index (ICI), Platts, NEX (Newcastle Export Index) and GC (Newcastle Global Coal Index), each with 25 percent contribution to the HBA

Since the current indexes have kept the price down, government wants to discuss a possible use of alternative index to increase the price in a meeting scheduled for this week in Surabaya, East Java.

Gushka said government will put into considerations the interests of all related parties in the coal industry, including coal companies, before making a decision on the issue.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon