Coal news and updates

Indonesia sets May coal benchmark price at $81.86 per tonne

* The Indonesian government has set the coal benchmark price (HBA) for May at $81.86 per tonne, energy ministry document released on Tuesday showed

* The benchmark price dropped for a ninth month, down from $88.85 per tonne set for April

* The drop for May’s pricing is due to coal import restriction in China and India as well as competition with Australia and Russia in markets such as Japan and South Korea, energy ministry spokesman Agung Pribadi said

* It is the lowest price since July 2017, according to Eikon Refinitiv data <0#COAL-ID>

* The HBA is a monthly average of the Argus-Indonesia Coal Index (ICI-1), the Platts Kalimantan 5,900 assessment, the Newcastle Export Index and the globalCOAL Newcastle index from the previous month. (Reporting by Wilda Asmarini, Writing by Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

Source: Reuters