In February 2022, Indonesia's coal exports rebounded sharply from the low in January, but remained at a low level compared with the same period in previous years.
According to the latest data from the Indonesian Bureau of Statistics, in February 2022, Indonesia's total coal exports were 30.8019 million tons, a sharp increase of 1.3 times from the previous month, but still down 8.88% year-on-year.
Affected by Indonesia's coal export ban, Indonesia's coal exports fell to a record low in January this year, at least in January 2014. Although exports in February rebounded sharply from their January lows, they were still the lowest in the same period since 2018.
In February, the Indonesian government lifted the export ban, but overall coal exports are far from recovering to pre-ban levels. After the resumption of exports, Indonesian miners were busy dealing with the backlog of orders due to the previous ban, and there were not many spots available for export. At the same time, China's domestic price stabilization efforts have increased, the bidding of power companies has slowed down, the buyers' wait-and-see attitude has become stronger, and the demand for Indonesian coal imports has weakened.
In February, Indonesia's total coal exports were US$2.918 billion, an increase of 122.55% year-on-year, an increase of 1.4 times from the previous month; therefore, the average price of Indonesian coal exports in the month was 94.73 US dollars / ton, an increase of 144.24% year-on-year and 3.54% month-on-month.
In terms of coal types, in February 2022, Indonesia's coal exports rebounded sharply from the previous month. In the same month, Indonesia exported the most other coal, at 20.8837 million tons, an increase of 5.97% year-on-year, a sharp increase of 137.85% month-on-month, accounting for 67.8% of Indonesia's total coal exports; the export of lignite was 5.896 million tons, down 19.15% year-on-year, a sharp increase of 1.5 times, accounting for 19.1%.
In the same month, Indonesia exported 2.6434 million tons of bituminous coal, down 36.95% year-on-year, up 158.4% month-on-month, accounting for 8.6% of the total exports of the month; exported 1.2128 million tons of coking coal, down 52.09% year-on-year and 15.68% month-on-month.
In February, Indonesia's thermal coal exports (bituminous and other coals) were 23.5271 million tons, down 1.56% year-on-year, an increase of 1.4 times month-on-month; thermal coal exports were US$2.303 billion, up 129% and 149.5% year-on-year, respectively.
By export destination, in February, the top five export destinations for Indonesian coal were China, India, Japan, the Philippines and South Korea, accounting for nearly 80% of Indonesia's total coal exports in that month.
In February, Indonesia exported 9.268 million tons of coal to China, down 39.01% year-on-year, up 82.63% month-on-month, accounting for 30.1% of Indonesia's total coal exports in the month, far lower than 38.2% in the previous month; exports of coal to India were 8.457 million tons, an increase of 55.62% year-on-year, a sharp increase of 3.3 times month-on-month, accounting for 27.5% of the total exports in the month.
In the same month, Indonesia exported 2.5869 million tons of coal to Japan, an increase of 28.93% year-on-year and 111.53% month-on-month; coal exports to the Philippines of 2.2513 million tons, down 4% year-on-year and 156.74% month-on-month; and 1.9407 million tons of coal to South Korea, up 10.26% and 58.23% year-on-year, respectively.
After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in late February, as concerns about global coal supply continued to rise, and the sanctions imposed by countries on Russia escalated day by day, buyers from EUROPEAN Union countries, Japan and South Korea also began to pour into markets such as Australia and Indonesia to seek alternative supplies. At the same time, due to rainy weather, barge tensions and domestic market obligations (DMOs), Indonesia is also struggling to meet these surges in seaborne coal demand, and in the short term, Indonesia's coal exports may remain sluggish.