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tate coal producer PT Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam (PT BA) expects coal sales to rise by 11 percent next year as it improves rail networks for the transportation of coal.

The company may sell as much as 15 million tons of coal next year, an increase from its target of 13.5 million this year, as it expects to transport more coal after purchasing of new locomotives, corporate secretary Achmad Sudarto said Monday night. "We hope that with better transport we can sell more coal."

The improvement in the transportation system is expected to help the company capitalize on a rise in production in 2010, when coal output is expected to reach up to 14 million tons from the expected 11 million tons this year.

The company sells coal not only from its own mines but from trade.

Aiming to increase production in near future, PT BA is in the process of acquiring two mining companies in Kalimantan under a deal estimated to be worth US$150 million.

"We hope we can settle the deal before the end of this year," Sudarto said, adding the company would finance the acquisition with internal funds.

The acquisitions are aimed at helping the company meet its production target of 50 million-tons in the next three to four years.

PT BA produced 5.6 million tons of coal in the first half this year, a 20-percent rise on 2008. It sales volume was unchanged at 5.8 million tons, of which 73 percent was allocated to the domestic market. The company's latest financial report showed its net profit soared 124 percent to Rp 1.59 trillion ($159 million) in the first half of this year, on the back of higher coal prices.

The company said that the average selling price rose 55.7 percent to Rp 768,553 a ton.

Sudarto said that the performance of the company in the next half "will be so much better" on the back of increasing sales volume, which is expected to reach 13.5 million tons this year, a 5.5-percent increase on 2008.

Sudarto also unveiled a target for the completion of 30-megawatt coal-fired power plant in South Sumatra in first quarter of 2011. The plant, Sudarto said, will cut operational cuts.