RI’s coal exports in January 2023 reached 26.1 million tons with a value of US$ 3.4 billion or equivalent to Rp. 51.6 trillion. Exports at the beginning of the year accounted for 5.03% of the annual coal export quota of 518 million tons.
China became the largest exporting country by buying 5.9 million tonnes of Indonesian coal worth US$ 680 million or equivalent to Rp 10.3 trillion. The number of shipments is equivalent to 8.4% of total exports throughout 2022 of 69.69 million tons. Meanwhile, India ranks second with a total purchase of 5.5 million tons of coal valued at US$ 425 million or around Rp 6.4 trillion.
Furthermore, South Korea took third place with total exports of 3.1 million tons valued at US$ 321 million or equivalent to Rp. 4.8 trillion. This amount is approximately 12.3% of the total shipment of Indonesian coal to Gingseng Country in 2022 of 25.2 million tonnes. The Philippines and Japan are also the destination countries for Indonesian coal exports with shipments of 2.6 million tons and 2.4 million tons respectively.
Mining Commodity Exports More Than Doubled
According to a report from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), exports of mining commodities in January 2023 more than doubled on an annual basis compared to January the previous year. The value of mining exports in January 2023 reached US$ 4.81 billion, up 121.46% compared to US$ 2.17 billion in January 2022.
Even so, the recorded export figure decreased by 12.66% from US$ 5.5 billion compared to December or on a monthly basis. “Exports of mining and other products rose 121.46% which was contributed by increased coal exports,” wrote the BPS report in the official news on the statistics of Indonesia’s January 2023 export and import developments on Wednesday (15/2).
Deputy for Production Statistics at BPS, M. Habibullah, announced that coal export performance in January 2023 had decreased compared to the previous month. Export volume fell to 26.2 million tons, while the price was at US$ 317.99 per ton. Habibullah explained that the decline in coal export performance was caused by a decrease in volume and price. The decline in export volume occurred because demand from the main export market for Indonesian coal commodities, namely China, decreased due to warmer winters and increased Chinese coal production. Meanwhile, demand from Europe also declined due to the abundant supply of natural gas, which reduced the use of coal-fired power plants (PLTU).