The Indonesian Coal Mining Association (apbi/ICMA) said that until now coal exporters are still adjusting their sales transactions using the reference coal price (HBA) which has been in place for two periods this month."The export process is currently still running normally, in accordance with the contract. For the HBA that came out on March 15, it increasingly refers to market prices, with the sampling taken also increasingly adjusting," said Acting Executive Director of apbi/ICMA Gita Mahyarani when contacted, Monday (3/17/2025). Gita said the HBA mechanism issued twice a month is still very new for coal industry players. "We are still monitoring and hope that by getting closer to the market price it will be better and the data will be consistent with the market situation," he continued.However, apbi provided several notes, especially for HBA III in the second period of March 2025, where the difference was around US$4 per ton higher than the Indonesian Coal Index (ICI)."In HBA III because if referring to ICI 5 there is still a difference of approximately USD 3-USD 4 per ton [still higher than the market price]. However, we will also see in the future, step by step ," he said.The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has issued Ministerial Decree (Kepmen) of Energy and Mineral Resources Number 72.K/MB.01/MEM.B/2025 concerning Guidelines for Determining Benchmark Prices for the Sale of Metal Mineral and Coal Commodities as of March 1, 2025.Based on the newly issued ministerial decree regarding the HBA for the second period of March 2025, the HBA for high-calorie coal or coking coal in the equivalent of a calorific value of 6,322 kcal/kg GAR, total moisture of 12.26%, total sulfur of 0.66%, and ash of 7.94% is set at USD 117.76/ton in the second period of March 2025. This value has decreased from the first period, March 2025, USD 128.24/ton.HBA I for thermal coal in the equivalent of a calorific value of 5,300 kcal/kg GAR, total moisture of 21.32%, total sulfur of 0.75%, and ash of 6.04% was set at USD 80.70/ton in the second period of March 2025 or down from the first period of March 2025 of USD 82.66/ton.HBA II in the equivalent of a calorific value of 4,100 kcal/kg GAR, total moisture of 35.73%, total sulfur of 0.23%, and ash of 3.90% was set at USD 49.44/ton in the second period of March 2025 or down from the first period of March 2025 of USD 50.70/ton.HBA III in the equivalent of a calorific value of 3,400 kcal/kg GAR, total moisture of 44.30%, total sulfur of 0.24%, and ash of 3.88% was set at USD 33.71/ton in the second period of March 2025 or down from the first period of March 2025 of USD 34.16/ton.In comparison, Newcastle coal futures for March contracts were trading at USD 98.75/ton on Tuesday (18/3/2025), down 1.99% on a daily basis. Annually, coal prices have plunged 23.89%.Starting this month, HBA is issued twice a month, namely on the 1st and 15th. This is in line with the mandatory implementation of HBA use for coal export activities starting March 1, 2025. Here is the formulation:HBA date 1 : (0.7*x1) + (0.3* x2) [USD/ton]X1 = the fourth week of the previous two months to the first week of the previous month.X2 = second week to third week two months ago.HBA 15th : (0.7*x1) + (0.3* x2) [USD/ton]
Source https://djakarta-miningclub.com