MoT: 51 coal miners obtain export license

By Donald Haromunthe

Director General of International Trade at the Ministry of Trade (MoT) Partogi Pangaribuan said on Friday that there are now 51 coal miners which have obtained the necessary export license from the ministry, up from 36 previously announced on September 12.

Speaking at a brief press conference, Partogi is optimistic that the new export license policy could become effective on October 1. He did not provide the list of firms which have obtained the export license.

Under the new policy, coal miners are required to obtain export license from the MoT to be able to continue to make export starting next month. Miners, however, must first obtain export recommendation letter from the Directorate General of Mineral and Coal at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources to apply for the export license. There are a number of requirements that must be fulfilled in order to get the recommendation, a process that takes time, which led to the delay of the implementation of the policy, initially planned to be effective September 1.

Earlier reports said that there are 127 companies seeking for export recommendation from the MEMR, raising concern whether they could meet the October 1 deadline.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak