Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Coal prices are slowly starting to strengthen again. On Monday (1/4/2022) trading, the price of May contract coal closed at US$ 258.65 per ton, up 2.64% compared to the previous day. The price level of US$ 258.65 per tonne is the highest since March 25, 2022.
Coal prices had fallen in a row on March 25-29 2022 before finally climbing slowly on March 30, 2022. Within a week, the price of coal had strengthened 5.32% but still fell 36.46% during the month. Within a year, coal prices have shot up 181.44%.
One of the reasons for the increase in coal prices was the improvement in world crude oil prices. The price of Brent crude oil today rose 3% to the level of US $ 107.53 per barrel.
Last week, the price of Brent oil plunged about 13% after US President Joe Biden planned to remove oil reserves from the national stockpile of 1 million barrels per day for 6 months, or about 180 million barrels.
The improvement in coal prices was also due to the lack of abating of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and fears of new sanctions against Russia. Most recently, the British government called on the world to increase economic sanctions against Russia over Moscow’s military attack on Ukraine. This was conveyed directly by the British Foreign Minister, Liz Truss, Monday (4/4/2022), on the sidelines of her visit to Ukraine’s neighbor, Poland.
Bank Mandiri Industry Analyst Ahmad Zuhdi said coal prices will still be influenced by the Russia-Ukraine situation. “But again, we still have to observe the development of this war, the more peaceful it is, in my opinion, the more stable it will be and tend to decline,” said Zuhdi, to CNBC Indonesia.
Climate Energy Finance Corporation chief executive Stephen Galilee said coal prices remained high due to the high demand for this commodity.
“Demand from India, Thailand, Korea and Japan is still high. This is an incentive for coal companies to continue operating,” said Galilee, as quoted by the ABC.
