HBA coal reference price down 2.14%

The government set its coal reference price (better known as HBA) for May 2016 at US$51.2 per ton FOB, down by 2.14 percent from last month?s level of $52.32, failing to sustain a rising trend that had occurred since March.

Executive Director of the Indonesia Coal Mining Association (ICMA), Supriatna Suhala said Monday that the rising HBA in March and April had been deemed as temporary as the global coal market remains in an oversupply situation. The industry had already anticipated that the price will resume its declining trend by mid of this year.

?The rising trend remains limited because of the excessive oversupply in the market,? he said, adding that domestic coal demand is expected to rise significantly in 2018 as new power plant projects start production, but will not be sufficient to turn around the declining coal price trend. (*)