The monthly HBA price of Indonesia is based on four separate coal price indices: (1) the Platts Kalimantan Index, (2) Argus-Indonesia Coal Index, (3) Newcastle Export Index and (4) the globalCOAL Newcastle Index. As China has curbed domestic coal production in order to comply with the Paris Climate Agreement, the world's largest energy consumer has now turned to coal imports again (since mid-2016), specifically to coal imports from Australia. Rising demand for Australian coal has lifted Australia's New Castle Index and therefore Indonesia's HBA index is rising accordingly.

Read more: Overview of Indonesia's Coal Mining Industry

Given that China's coal imports from Australia are expected to continue in the remainder of the year, the HBA price should surpass the USD $70 per metric ton level before the year-end. Since December 2015, Indonesia's HBA price has surged 29.1 percent.

Indonesian Government's Benchmark Thermal Coal Price (HBA):

Month    2012    2013    2014    2015
   2016
January   109.29    87.55    81.90    63.84    53.20
February   111.58    88.35    80.44    62.92    50.92
March   112.87    90.09    77.01    67.76    51.62
April   105.61    88.56    74.81    64.48    52.32
May   102.12    85.33    73.60    61.08    51.20
June    96.65    84.87    73.64    59.59    51.87
July    87.56    81.69    72.45    59.16    53.00
August    84.65    76.70    70.29    59.14    58.37
September    86.21    76.89    69.69    58.21    63.93
October    86.04    76.61    67.26    57.39    69.07
November    81.44    78.13    65.70    54.43
December    81.75    80.31    69.23    53.51

in USD/ton
Source: Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources

Indonesian Production, Export, Consumption & Price of Coal:

  2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Production
(in million tons)
 217  240  254  275  353  412  474  458  461
Export
(in million tons)
 163  191  198  210  287  345  402  382  366
Domestic
(in million tons)
  61   49   56   65   66   67   72   76   87
Price (HBA)
(in USD/ton)
  n.a   n.a  70.7  91.7 118.4  95.5  82.9  72.6  60.1

Sources: Indonesian Coal Mining Association (APBI) & Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources

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