J

AKARTA: PT Indo Tambangraya Megah (ITM), the country’s third-largest coal producer, which operates in Kalimantan, hopes to increase production by 13 percent to 25 million tons this year from 22 million tons last year.

President Director of ITM Somyot Ruchirawat said in Jakarta on Monday that the company would spend about US$126 million in new investments this year to develop infrastructure and production facilities at its coal mine sites.

With the additional investments, he hoped the production target could be achieved. ITM currently produces coal through its six subsidiaries which also operate coal mines in Kalimantan.

Ruchirawat said most of this year’s production would be exported to China, Japan and Taiwan. Last year, more than 90 percent of the production was exported to China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Italy, Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines and India.

Meanwhile, finance director Edward Manurung said that, despite the increases in sales, ITM suffered a 39 percent decrease in net profit to $204 million in 2010 due to surging operating costs and loss in derivative transactions. — JP