Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has set its April thermal coal reference price, also known as Harga Batubara Acuan, at $74.81/mt FOB, the lowest since December 2009 and down 2.86% from March 2014.
The April 2014 HBA was 15.53% lower year on year while in December 2009, the HBA was $74.51/mt.
The HBA is a monthly average price based 25% on the Platts Kalimantan 1 (5,900 kcal/kg GAR) 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 March, the daily Platts Kalimantan 5,900 kcal/kg GAR assessment averaged $69.30/mt, while the daily Platts Newcastle coal price -- which reflects coal with a calorific value of 6,300 kcal/kg GAR -- averaged $74.05/mt.
The HBA for thermal coal is the basis for determining the prices of 72 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 coal with a heating value of 6,322 kcal/kg GAR, total moisture content of 8%, ash of 15% and sulfur of 0.8%.