PT Bukit Asam Tbk. (PTBA) indicates an increase in production in 2024 in line with the growth of coal train transportation capacity to 52 million tons.

Setiadi Wicaksono, Plh. PTBA's SVP Project Magament Office, said that along with increasing PTBA production, the company is also increasing its rail transport capacity.

Currently, PTBA has operated 2 coal railway lines, namely Tanjung Enim-Tarahan with a capacity of 25 million tons per year, and Tanjung Enim-Kertapati with 7 million tons per year, bringing the total to 32 million tons per year.

In 2024, PTBA will develop 1 additional coal railway line, namely the Tanjung Enim-Keramasan route with a capacity of 20 million tons per year. It is hoped that the new line will be operational in the fourth quarter of 2024.

"Therefore, PTBA's coal train capacity can reach 52 million tons per year in 2024," he said in Public Expose Live 2023, Monday (27/11/2023).

In the long term, PTBA will add a coal train route to the Tanjung Enim-Perajen route with a capacity of 20 million tons per year. This project is expected to operate in the third quarter of 2026.

Farida Thamrin, Director of Finance and Risk Management at PTBA, said that the company has the largest coal reserves in Indonesia with total mined reserves of 3.02 billion tons and total resources of 5.85 billion tons. With an estimated production of 30 million tons per year, the total reserves are sufficient for 100 years.

However, PTBA certainly wants to capitalize on coal reserves more quickly. Therefore, PTBA is gradually increasing production capacity and also coal transportation via train.

As of September 2023, PTBA produced 31.9 million tons of coal, up 15% year on year (yoy) from 27.7 million tons as of September 2022. PTBA's coal sales volume also rose 15% yoy to 27 million tons from the previous 23 .5 million tonnes, and rail transport volume of 23.7 million tonnes, up 12% from the previous 21.1 million tonnes.

"By the end of 2023, we are targeting coal production of 41 million tons. PTBA wants to gradually increase its production capacity," he explained.

PTBA's coal production has tended to increase in the last 3 years. In 2022, coal production will reach 37.14 million tons, in 2021 it will reach 30.04 million tons, and in 2020 (at the peak of Covid-19) it will reach 24.82 million tons.

The majority of PTBA coal products range from 4,000-5,000 kacl/kg. According to Farida, PTBA's coal calorie variations are increasingly attracting the interest of a wider range of consumers.

Coal Prices

Weakening global coal prices also put pressure on PTBA's financial performance even though operational performance increased.

Farida Thamrin said that demand for coal until the fourth quarter of 202 is estimated to still be quite high, especially from India, due to the arrival of winter and low coal stocks at PLTUs. Apart from that, there is the potential for increased demand from Japan, South Korea and several European countries.

However, Newcastle coal prices are predicted to still weaken in the fourth quarter of 2023 due to the decline in demand for high calorie coal in Europe. It is estimated that the price of coal is around USD 130-140 per ton.

Throughout 9 months of 2023, the average price of Newcastle coal has fallen 48% to USD 185 per ton. The average selling price of PTBA coal as of September 2023 is IDR 1.3 million per ton, down from 1 million tons as of September 2022.

During the January-September 2023 period, PTBA recorded a net profit of IDR 3.8 trillion or a decrease of 62% compared to the same period the previous year of IDR 10 trillion. Apart from that, PTBA also posted a 12.16% decline in revenue to IDR 27.7 trillion from the previous IDR 31.1 trillion.

To get around the decline in coal prices, continued Farida, PTBA carried out load efficiency, optimized mining digitalization, and spurred exports.

"As of September 2023, the portion of export sales will increase by 15% to 42%, compared to the previous year's 38%. One way for PTBA to deal with the decline in coal prices is to increase exports so that performance is maintained," he explained.

The majority of PTBA's sales in the export market are India 14%, followed by South Korea 8%, China 7%, Cambodia 3%, and other countries 10%. According to Farida, PTBA also has a number of customers from European countries.

Image source: Aprianto Cahyo Nugroho

Source: www.market.bisnis.com/PTBA Targetkan Kapasitas KA Batu Bara 52 Juta Ton pada 2024