Indonesia’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources set its March thermal coal reference price, also known as Harga Batubara Acuan, at $51.62/mt FOB, for its first rise in a year.
March’s HBA price represents a rise of 1.4% from February but a drop of nearly 24% year on year.
The HBA is a monthly average price based 25% on the Platts Kalimantan 5,900 kcal/kg gross as received assessment; 25% on the Argus-Indonesia Coal Index 1 (6,500 kcal/kg GAR); 25% on the Newcastle Export Index — formerly the Barlow-Jonker index (6,322 kcal/kg GAR) of Energy Publishing — and 25% on the globalCOAL Newcastle (6,000 kcal/kg NAR) index.
In February, the daily FOB Platts Kalimantan 5,900 GAR coal assessment averaged $45.69/mt, while the daily 90-day Platts Newcastle FOB price for coal with a calorific value of 6,300 kcal/kg GAR averaged $50.67/mt.
The HBA for thermal coal is the basis for determining the prices of 75 Indonesian coal products and for calculating the royalties Indonesian producers have to pay for each metric ton of coal they sell locally or overseas.
It is based on 6,322 kcal/kg GAR coal, with 8% total moisture content, 15% ash as received and 0.8% sulfur as received.