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Indonesia sets Jul HBA thermal coal price at $71.92/mt, down 12% on month

Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources set its July thermal coal reference price -- also known as Harga Batubara Acuan, or HBA -- at $71.92/mt, down 11.7% on the month and 31.3% on the year.

The ministry had set the price for June at $81.48/mt, and for July 2018 at $104.65/mt.

The HBA is a monthly average price based 25% each on Platts Kalimantan 5,900 kcal/kg GAR assessments, Argus-Indonesia Coal Index 1 (6,500 kcal/kg GAR), Newcastle Export Index (6,322 kcal/kg GAR) and globalCOAL Newcastle (6,000 kcal/kg NAR).

In June, the daily Platts FOB Kalimantan 5,900 kcal/kg GAR coal assessment averaged $66.93/mt, down from $69.75/mt in May, while the daily 7-45 day Platts Newcastle FOB price for coal with a calorific value of 6,300 kcal/kg GAR averaged $69.17/mt, down from $77.98/mt in May.

The HBA price for thermal coal is the basis for determining the prices of 77 Indonesian coal products and calculating the royalty producers have to pay for each metric ton of coal sold.

It is based on 6,322 kcal/kg GAR coal with 8% total moisture content, 15% ash as received and 0.8% sulfur as received.

Source: S&P Global Platts