ITM says 2011 coal sales 89 percent contracted

Indonesia-listed coal mining firm PT Indo Tambangraya Megah (ITM) said that its 2011 coal sales plan of 25 million tonnes (MT) has been 89 percent contracted, the company?s director told reporters on Monday.

?As of February this year, ITM still has 11 percent of un-contracted volume for this year?s coal sales target, the company?s CFO Edward Manurung said.

Edward said the firm is also expected to raise production and sales to 25 million tonnes this year, up by 3 million tonnes from last year.

Meanwhile, ITM's CEO Somyot Ruchirawat said that coal shipment to Japan, which accounted for 21 percent of total sales last year is relatively unaffected by the Tsunami that hit the country.

"There are a number of shipments that were diverted to other discharging locations within Japan. But no shipment was diverted to other country," he said, adding that shipment volume to Japan will likely hovering around 21 percent of total sales this year.

The company, which is a unit of Thai energy conglomerate Banpu Plc, also targeted this year's average selling price to increase to US$85-90 per tonne from $74.9 per tonne last year.

The company has exports its coal to China (22.9%), Japan (21%), Taiwan (11.2 %), South Korea (8.2 %), Italy (7.9%), Thailand (7%), Hong Kong (5.5%), the Philippines (5%) and India (4.1%) last year and sold its product at home (2.2%) and to other buyers (5%). (giok)