ndonesia has set its coal benchmark price at the highest in over a decade, supported by surging demand in China, South Korea and Europe, a statement published by the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry showed on Monday.
The ministry set the benchmark coal price (HBA) at US$150.03 per ton in September, up 14.53 percent from the $130.99 per ton in August, and the highest since $116.65 per ton in November 2011, ministry data showed.
“The rising power demand in China is exceeding the capacity of its domestic coal production,” ministry spokesman Agung Pribadi said in the statement.
Read also: Behind the soaring coal price
He added that rising coal demand in South Korea and Europe was in line with rising natural gas prices in the regions.
European gas prices stood at 38.65 euros ($45.91) per megawatt hour on July 6, key European benchmark Dutch TTF hub data showed.
“[The high price] was caused [by] record low gas storage, outages, prolonged production issues and active Asian buying,” said Nick Campbell, director at consultancy Inspired Energy, on July 7 as reported by Reuters.
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