Malaysian state power company Tenaga Nasional has put out a spot tender for coal, calling for prompt delivery from as far afield as Australia, South Africa and Russia.
The utility, which finance group CGS CIMB estimates takes 60% of its coal from Indonesia, is one of a growing number of regular buyers of Indonesian coal seeking alternative supply sources as they grow fed up with delays by Indonesian authorities in allowing loaded ships to depart the country's clogged coaling anchorages and terminals.
Tenaga Nasional's managing director Nor Azman bin Mufti put it diplomatically when he told media that the tender was issued to mitigate the effects of the ban.
A Singapore-based coal trader at a large commodities company was blunter. He told TradeWinds that Indonesia’s big Asian coal buyers are furious at the way they have been left in the lurch.
"The Malaysians are not the only ones who are putting out tenders," said the trader, who did not want to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media.
"Everyone is getting increasingly impatient with the way authorities in Jakarta have been dragging their heels getting coal exports moving again. Every day this continues is going to lead to longer and longer delays," he added.
Indonesia released 34 bulk carriers, mostly panamaxes and supramaxes in the days immediately following the lifting of the coal export ban late on Thursday 13 January.
On Monday, Indonesia's ministry of energy and minerals said a proposal to release 22 more vessels had not yet been approved.
Even if those ships are allowed to depart in the upcoming days, the combined volume of cargo they would be carrying would represent only a small fraction of the 30m to 40m tonnes of coal that Indonesia would have exported during the month of January based on figures from 2020 and 2021.
"If you take the average size of the bulk carriers that load in Indonesia — about 65,000-dwt — those 56 ships will only be moving about 3.6 million tonnes of coal," the trader explained.
Bureaucratic backlog
The agreement reached between the Indonesian government and the country's mining sector on Thursday 13 January only allows to coal producers who met their domestic market obligation of supplying 25% of their 2021 production volume to state utility Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) to resume exports.
The delays in issuing export clearances have been attributed by senior Indonesian government officials to the verification process that is required to scrutinise mining companies to see whether they complied.
Coal industry sources in the country described this as a slow and bureaucratic process that requires multiple layers of checking and approval from several government ministries.
"It is going to take a long time given the number of coal producers we have," said one Jakarta-based source.
A report by Japanese investment bank Nomura said in a report last week that coal comprised 14% of Indonesia's exports in 2021, and had the export ban apply during all of January, the country's total exports could have been reduced by around $4bn, enough to shift the trade balance to a deficit from a surplus.
