JAKARTA. Starting from October 1st, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has applied tight policy on coal export. The policy entailed only manufacturer or merchant with registered export license (ET) are allowed to export coal. The policy is in accordance with the regulation of Ministry of Trade No. 39/2014 about registered exporter, which should have been effective on September 1st but due to protest by coal manufacturers, the implementation of the law is postponed until October 1st, 2014.
General Director of Mining and Coal, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Sukhyar asserted that after October 1 companies who have not owned the ET license will be prohibited from exporting coal. “It has been decided that starting October 1, any exporter who does not own ET license is no longer allowed to export coal,” he said after IIIS Media Dialogue Session on Indonesia’s Coal Sector, Tuesday (30/9)..
The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources claimed they were fully aware that the implementation of the law may lead to production delay and decreasing Indonesian export, even more the decrease of Indonesian export value from coal.
Nonetheless, Sukhyar asserted the government was not too worried, since they would evaluate this policy after review has been done. Hence, he asked the Ministry of Trade to not worry should there be any decrease in the value of coal export.
The government hoped the ET regulation would make the price of coal in global market rise since supply was reduced. Hopefully price could rise up to approximately USD70 per ton by end of 2014. “If there is no significant improvement in price, we will consider lowering production”, said Sukhyar.
Sukhyar also explained that for companies who still have not gotten the ET license due to unpaid royalty, or companies who hold the Agreement of Coal Mining Industry (PKP2B), the government will give lead time until end of October 2014.
But in future the government will make it compulsory for royalty payment to be made in advance. This poiicy aims to prevent coal mining companies from deferring payment of royalty.
The mechanism is as follows: companies who wanted to export coal should pay the royalty first, whose value was based on the amount of coal exported. Then, the government will assign a surveyor to review the export transaction of that coal company.
On August, Indonesia coal production reached 280 million tons, of which 230 to 240 million are for exports. The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources predicted Indonesian coal production this year is 397 to 420 million tons, 310-320 million tons for export and 90-100 million tons for domestic use. (Pratama Guittara)
Sumber: Kontan, halaman 14. Edisi Rabu, 1 Oktober 2014.
