Don't Care About China's Consumption Of Coal, PTBA Is Looking For Other Countries

Coal (photo: dock. intermediate)

JAKARTA - PT Bukit Asam Tbk (PTBA) has opened its voice regarding China which limits the use of coal in steam power plants (PLTU). As is known, previously China decided to only build 10 PLTUs in the first semester of 2024. This aims to reduce coal consumption.

PTBA's SVP Project Management Office, Setiadi said, his party did see the potential for limiting coal consumption in relatively developed countries such as in China. However, he ensured that PTBA also saw that there were still several potentials in other developing countries in Southeast Asia and South Asia.

"We are still seeing several other potential developing countries such as Southeast Asia, South Asia, potential countries such as India, Bangladesh. The demand side is still quite high," he said at a Public Expose press conference, Tuesday, August 27.

It is known that during the first semester of 2024, PTBA did expand the reach of coal exports and will continue in the second semester of this year. The company is targeting coal exports to Bangladesh of 0.24 million tons, the Philippines of 0.12 million tons and Japan of 0.02 million tons.

Meanwhile, the decline in exports to China was also seen in the first semester of 2024, in the first semester of exports to China was recorded at 0.58 million tons, down from the previous 1.59 million tons in the first semester of 2023.

Meanwhile, exports to India increased from the previous 2.19 million tons to 3 million tons in the first semester. The same thing happened in Vietnam which increased to 1.22 million tons from the previous 0.46 million tons. Meanwhile, exports to Thailand recorded an increase to 0.93 million tons from the previous 0.13 million tons. Finally, exports to South Korea also increased from the previous 1.03 million tons to 1.25 million tons.

"From our side, Bukit Asam is also preparing several development projects that can later be secure in terms of using coal in the domestic area. In terms of energy and long-term downstreaming, it can secure the use of coal on the domestic side through downstream and energy projects," continued Setiadi.

For information, the realization of PTBA's coal production was recorded at 18.8 million tons and rail transportation by 17.3 million tons per Semester I 2024.

Meanwhile, PTBA's coal sales in Semester I 2019 amounted to 13.4 million tons, then 12.6 million tons in Semester I 2020, then 12.9 million tons in Semester I 2021, rose to 14.6 million tons in Semester I 2022, and 17.4 million tons in the same period in 2023.

Pencapaian rekor tersebut ditopang oleh penjualan ekspor batu bara sebesar 8,5 juta pada Januari-Juni 2024, meningkat 20 persen secara tahunan. Sementara realisasi Domestic Market Obligation (DMO) sebesar 11,6 juta ton, tumbuh 12 persen dibanding Semester I 2023 yang sebesar 10,3 juta ton.