Indonesia has granted export permits to 29 coal miners since last Wednesday when it partially lifted an export ban that had been in place since the start of the year, said a trade ministry representative.
The miners had fully fulfilled their obligation to allocate a quarter of their coal production to the domestic market last year, the ministry’s director for foreign trade, Indrasaei Wisnu Wardana, said at a trade conference on Tuesday.
As many as 48 coal vessels had so far left the country over the past week, he added.
Also speaking the event, the country’s minister of trade, Muhammad Lutfi, said further export permits would be allocated.
“Basically, once miners fulfil their domestic market obligation, they will be allowed to export,” he said.
Some of the country’s largest producers – such as Adaro Indonesia, Kideco Jaya Agung, Bukit Asam and Bayan Resources – are among those to have already received permission to export, according to a ministry press release.
The sudden halt to exports from the world’s No. 1 thermal coal exporter struck at a time of already tight global supply and strong demand, causing seaborn prices to spike.
The Pacific-basin benchmark Global Coal Newcastle Index was pegged last at USD 236/t, up from USD 175/t at the beginning of the month and the highest since October.