Jakarta. China and India will boost Indonesia's coal production in 2024, even beyond the target set this year, according to the Indonesia Mining and Energy Forum (IMEF).

Indonesia plans to produce 710 million tons of coal in 2024. Government data shows that Indonesia’s coal production hit a record high of 775 million tons last year. This is much higher than the government’s 2023 production target of 694.5 million tons.

Coal exports reached 518 million tons that year, while the rest of the coal output went to meeting domestic demand. IMEF, which brings together mining practitioners and experts, said Tuesday that Indonesia would likely produce more coal than it originally planned again this year.

“There is still a demand [for Indonesian coal] in China and India,” IMEF chairman Singgih Widagdo said in Jakarta on Tuesday.

“I would say Indonesia’s coal production would range between 750 million and 775 million tons this year. Because they [India and China] are still constructing coal-fired power plants, although that does not mean they are not trying to adopt renewable energy,” Singgih said.

S&P Global Commodity Insights reported that exports to China stood at 215.7 million tons, followed by India at 108.4 million tons that year. This means that over half of Indonesia’s coal exports go to the said two markets.

Singgih said the Indonesian government should form a team to have government-to-government discussions with China and India regarding coal. This is to anticipate the possibility of them putting the brakes on coal imports. 

“Because imagine if our [coal] production one day reaches almost 800 million tons, but [China and India] are importing less. ... That would not only deal a fatal blow to the miners but also the environment,” Singgih said.

India not long ago announced that it was eyeing to produce 1.3 billion tons of coal by 2025 to cut down imports, according to Indian news agency Mint.

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