The Indonesian ports of Banjarmasin and Tarakan on the island of Kalimantan are temporarily not granting permits for coal exports to the Philippines due to aforementioned safety concerns. Kalimantan is one of the key coal-producing regions in Indonesia. It is estimated that the Philippines imports approximately 15 million tons of coal per year from Indonesia (worth approx. USD $800 million) to feed their power plants (around 70 percent of the country's total coal imports originates from Indonesia). Although this is not an impressive figure, in times of weak coal demand any export is welcome. Indonesia is the world's largest thermal coal exporter, known for its low grade coal. However, due to sluggish global growth (particularly rapidly declining economic growth in China) the coal price has tumbled significantly in recent years and has put severe pressure on coal miners.

The Indonesian Coal Mining Association (APBI) expects more ports in Indonesia to follow the example that has been set by Banjarmasin and Tarakan thus suspend coal shipments to the Philippines. However, the institution also said that illegal coal shipments (something that is pretty rampant in the Southeast Asian area) will most likely continue. The Philippines said it may now decide to import (more costly) coal from South Africa, Australia or Russia.

Indonesian authorities want to raise security in the waters around the southern Philippines (Sulu Sea) in order to avert a situation that is seen in Somalia. In media it has been reported that the foreign ministers of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines are set to meet in Jakarta (possibly in early May) to discuss the possibility of joint patrols in the region.

State-controlled coal miner Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam said it now diverts its shipments for the Philippines to Hong Kong. Bukit Asam exports around 1 million tons of coal to the Philippines every year.

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
June    96.65    84.87    73.64    59.59
July    87.56    81.69    72.45    59.16
August    84.65    76.70    70.29    59.14
September    86.21    76.89    69.69    58.21
October    86.04    76.61    67.26    57.39
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  376
Export
(in million tons)
 163  191  198  210  287  345  402  382  296
Domestic
(in million tons)
  61   49   56   65   66   67   72   76   80
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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