Tougher requirement won?t have significant effect on RI?s coal export

By Maryati Dimursi and Bambang Atmaja

The new tougher export policy, effective as of October 1, won?t have significant effect on the country?s coal export this year as many of the major producers have already obtained the necessary export license, said Director General of Mineral and Coal at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, R. Sukhyar.

Under the new policy, coal exporters are now required to obtain export license (or also known as registered exporter status) from the Ministry of Trade. To obtain the license, the exporters must first obtain recommendation letter from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, which set a number of tough requirements including ?clean and clear? status of their mining permits, and proof of proper payment of tax and royalty.

There have been concerns that man miners would not be able to get the export permit before October 1 as some of them need more time to fulfill the requirements, or bureaucracy bottlenecks at the MEMR in processing the documents submitted by miners.

According to Sukhyar, as of October 10, there are already 160 companies which obtained the recommendation letter from the ministry to get export license from the Ministry of Trade. The 160 firms include 36 coal miners holding the so-called PKP2B coal mining contract (major coal miners), 91 coal miners holding the IUP mining business permit, and 33 coal transportation and trading companies.

Sukhyar said Friday that about 80 percent of the country?s coal production is attributed to the PKP2B miners, with the remainder 20 percent to IUP miners. With dozens of PKP2B coal miners already holding the recommendation letter for getting the export permit, he is confident output and export this year would not be much affected by the new export license policy. ?We?re optimistic that coal output will be in the 400 million tons range,? he said.

Vice Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Susilo Siswoutomo, however, has a different view, saying that the new policy would reduce the country?s coal export. But he did not provide estimate on the reduction in export. Susilo said that the lower export is a good thing as it would help preserve the country?s coal deposits for future use.

There are 73 PKP2B coal miners in the country, of which 55 were already in production with total production accounting for 80 percent of the national output. Meanwhile, 1,394 IUP holders currently in production contributed to the remaining 20 percent.

Meanwhile, Bambang Tjahjono, Coal Chief at the ministry, said Friday that the country?s coal production rose by only 4 percent in the first nine months of this year, a relatively low increase compared to previous years.

Production hit 310.84 million tons during the January-September period, up by about 4 percent compared to the 299 million tons in the same period of last year.

Bambang said 234.76 million tons of the total production during the nine-month period was exported, with the remaining 75.19 million tons absorbed by the domestic market.

The ministry?s Directorate General of Mineral and Coal has set this year?s coal production at 421 million tons.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak