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ublicly listed coal miner PT Bayan Resources is looking to increase its share of the domestic market with its increased production of low-calorie coal suitable for power plants.

Bayan director overseeing business development Russel Neil said the company was aiming for 10 to 15 percent of the domestic market this year from 5 percent last year, as part of its goal to secure 30 percent market share by 2018.

The company has set up a special division to boost local sales.

“In the past we specialized 100 percent in exports as we didn’t have much low-calorie coal but the supply has shifted and we don’t have much high-calorie anymore,” Neil explained at a press conference in Jakarta on Friday.

High-calorie coal produces more heat as a result of its mature age, it is used for manufacturing and sells for higher prices. Low-calorie coal produces less heat, is cheaper and is usually used for power plants.

Bayan will be banking on the government’s grand plan to increase power generation by 35,000 megawatts by 2019.

The firm, which started mining in 1997, is bidding to supply coal for state electricity company PLN’s power stations as well as independent power producers (IPPs), including the 2,035 MW Paiton power station complex in Paiton, Probolinggo in East Java.

Bayan will continue to export to its biggest export destination, India, followed by Japan, China, Taiwan, the Philippines and Singapore among others.

Neil notes the significant number of new power plants in the pipeline in those respective countries, creating an additional need for 500 million tons of coal every year within seven years.

In the face of this huge potential future demand, Bayan has confidence in its production capacity as it already has secured at least 700 million tons of coal supply through its biggest mine site at Tabang, East Kalimantan.

“There is enough for now that we’ve actually stopped drilling there. If we drill more we can find another billion tons of coal,” he said.

Aside from Tabang, Bayan has 15 other smaller sites in East Kalimantan and South Kalimantan.

To maximize production and distribution from Tabang, the company last year built a 69-kilometer road from the mining area to a new barge loading facility on the Kedang Kepala River.

This year, Bayan will continue building and renovating the area, having allocated somewhere in the region of US$40 million for this purpose.

With better infrastructure for the more efficient supply of a greater volume of low-cost low-calorie coal, the company expects an improved business performance this year despite the persistently low coal prices worldwide.

Bayan corporate secretary Jenny Quantero said this year the firm aimed to produce between 11 and 14 million tons of coal, up from 11.3 million tons last year, and to boost sales to 13 to 16 million tons, up from 8.9 million tons.

Revenues are expected to reach $400 million to $600 million this year from $465 million last year with average selling prices to be lower at $30 to $40 per ton this year from $52.1 per ton in 2015.

As of March, Bayan had produced 1.2 million tons of coal and reaped $93.9 million from the sale of 2.1 million tons, despite selling prices dropping to $45 from $57 year-on-year.

Global coal oversupply and a weak economy worldwide have caused demand for coal to drop steadily since 2011.

Last year, Bayan saw a more than 25 percent drop in coal sales, while prices dropped 30 percent. Sales value plunged 43.8 percent but the company’s losses decreased to $81.8 million from $189 million in 2014 thanks to lower production costs.

“We hope the price will go up again as we see it has started to stabilize at $50 in average for the last month, up from $45 in the first quarter,” Jenny said.