Indonesia sets Jan HBA thermal coal price at $65.93/mt, down 0.6% from Dec

Singapore — The Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources set its January thermal coal reference price -- also known as Harga Batubara Acuan, or HBA -- at $65.93/mt, down 0.6% on the month and down 28.7% on the year.

Tightened Chinese import restrictions have limited any potential upside to seaborne thermal coal demand in winter, according to a ministry spokesman.

The ministry had set the price for December 2019 at $66.30/mt, and for January 2019 at $92.41/mt.

The HBA is a monthly average price based 25% each on Platts Kalimantan 5,900 kcal/kg GAR assessments, Argus-Indonesia Coal Index 1 (6,500 kcal/kg GAR), Newcastle Export Index (6,322 kcal/kg GAR) and globalCOAL Newcastle (6,000 kcal/kg NAR).

In December, the daily Platts FOB Kalimantan 5,900 kcal/kg GAR coal assessment averaged $60.33/mt, up from $60.17/mt in November.

The HBA price for thermal coal is the basis for determining the prices of 77 Indonesian coal products and for calculating the royalty amount producers have to pay for each metric ton of coal sold.

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.

-- Fred Wang, fred.wang@spglobal.com

-- Anita Nugraha, newsdesk@spglobal.com

-- Edited by Manish Parashar, newsdesk@spglobal.com