After being banned for export, Indonesian coal is currently selling well, ordered by countries in the world. This was conveyed by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM). They will boost national coal production this year.
The government’s focus is to boost coal exports due to an additional 150 million tons of coal demand from Germany.
The Director-General of Mineral and Coal (Dirjen Minerba) of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Ridwan Djamaluddin, said that his party would increase this year’s coal production quota which is intended for export.
However, he has not disclosed the exact figures that will be added to the 2022 work plan and budget changes (RKAB).
“There are no figures yet, but the description of the demand is 150 million tons. That’s what the German figures speak for as far as I know,” said Ridwan when met at the Ministry of Home Affairs Building, Thursday (16/6/2022).
Ridwan is optimistic that he will be able to meet Germany’s coal needs of 150 million tons. The reason is, that the source of black gold mining in Indonesia is still sufficient.
“We still have enough resources, including the big ones. We still have enough including PTBA and others,” he said.
Meanwhile, based on Modi data from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Indonesia’s coal production as of June 16, 2022, has reached 270.24 million tons, or 40.76% of the 2022 coal production target set at 663 million tons.
Currently, Indonesian coal is being flooded with requests from European Union countries. For example, Germany and Poland actually did import substitution due to sanctions on Russian coal.
Despite the demand from these European Union countries, coal production in mid-June 2022 is still smaller than coal production in June 2021 which reached 286 million tons.
Executive Director of the Indonesian Coal Mining Association (APBI), Hendra Sinadia confirmed, that there have been several requests for exports to Europe. In fact, there have been coal export activities carried out.
However, Hendra did not know the details of how much coal was exported to Europe. “The progress is good. I heard that there have been exports to several European countries. Yesterday afternoon with a buyer from Poland, the information is that exports are running,” explained Hendra, quoted Thursday (16/6/2022).
What is clear, Hendra said, APBI will continue to serve the requests of several potential buyers from Poland and Germany, facilitated by the local Indonesian Embassy.