A worker operates an excavator to load coal onto a truck at the PT Karya Citra Nusantara (KCN) Port, Marunda, Jakarta, on Wednesday (January 12, 2022). (Photo: ANTARA)Indonesia, theworld’s biggest thermal coal exporter, on January1 imposed a month-long exportban without warning, causing jitters in markets and among major importers suchas Japan, the Philippines and the Republic of Korea (RoK).
The country’s authoritieshave started a calibrated easing for firms that meet a Domestic MarketObligation (DMO), which was introduced to ward off widespread power outagesafter local plants reported critically low coal inventories.
Authoritieshave blamed the coal supply saga on poor compliance of the DMO policy, underwhich coal miners must sell a quarter of their output to local buyers, with a 70USD per tonne price cap for power generators.
RidwanDjamaluddin, director general of minerals and coal at the energy ministry, said75 ships had been allowed to load coal from firms that had met all their DMOrequirements, while 12 more had been allowed to proceed having provided awritten assurance of compliance and acceptance of penalties.
Another ministryofficial on January 18 said coal stocks at local plants had improved andauthorities had stepped up monitoring of deliveries to generators.
Theministry has set a target of enabling local power plants to have enoughinventory by the end of January for more than 20 days of operations./.
VNA
