JAKARTA – A number of coal mining companies are still optimistic about business prospects this year, even though commodity prices continue to decline.
The February 2023 Reference Coal Price (HBA) fell again to US$ 277 per ton. However, when compared to the HBA in 2019 which was positioned at US$ 66.30 per ton, this year’s coal price is actually still at a high level.
However, PT Indika Energy Tbk (INDY) does not focus its business on fluctuating coal prices.
Indika Energy’s Head of Corporate Communications, Ricky Fernando said that his party would focus more on things that can be controlled, including cost efficiency and performance effectiveness to ensure target achievement.
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“Our production target this year is 32.8 million tons – of which 31 million tons are from Kideco and 1.8 million tons from Multi Tambangjaya Utama (MUTU),” he explained to Kontan.co.id, Monday (27/2).
INDY’s business strategy throughout this year includes maintaining production levels according to targets, ensuring cost efficiency, optimizing capital expenditures, and maintaining company cash.
Currently, Indika sells its coal to a number of countries, namely China, Southeast Asian countries, India, South Korea and Japan. “Meanwhile, in 2022 we will allocate 28% of our production for domestic needs,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, PT Mifa Bersaudara, a coal mining company located in West Aceh Regency, still sees bright business prospects for the next few years.
General Manager Operation Mifa Bersaudara, Hadi Firmansah, explained that several experts projected that coal prices would still be in a strong position in the next two to three years.
“But in the three years since, prices have started to decline again. But we went through a time when coal prices were at their lowest point in 2015-2016 and we were still able to operate,” he explained when met in Bogor, Saturday (26/2).
In order to deal with the decline in coal commodity prices, Mifa Bersaudara will optimize existing business processes and efficiency of some production costs. Throughout this year, the Mifa Brothers have planned a coal production volume of 8 million tons.
Meanwhile, when combined with the production of its sister company, PT Bara Energi Lestari, which often uses infrastructure from Mifa, the total coal production will reach 10.6 million tons this year.
“Compared to last year, there was an increase of 1.3 million tons. This increase is due to increased demand,” he said.
Apart from selling domestically, the Mifa Brothers export their coal to a number of countries, namely to China, India, Thailand and Vietnam.
In line with the increase in production volume this year, Mifa Bersaudara projects that the company’s revenue will increase by up to 15% in 2023.
