GOVT GUARANTEES COAL SUPPLIES AT HOME : VP

Banten, Nov 6 (ANTARA) - Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the government would guarantee coal stocks at home so that consumers did not need to worry about the commodity becoming scarce because it was exported.
"There is a guarantee. The law says that coal may not be exported if the commodity is needed at home. It can be exported only after domestic need has been met," the vice president said in Pandeglang, Banten. on Thursday.
Kalla said the conditional ban on coal exports was based on the law and the government would supervise its enforcement tightly.
He said coal mining companies were basically "mere contractors" who could not export their product freely.
"According to the law, coal belongs to the state. Companies can only mine coal as contractors. They can export coal only after domestic need has been met," he said.
It was reported earlier that coal stocks at home are running low because a number of coal mining companies prefer to export their product to get a better price.
State-owned electricity company PLN has said it was planning to import 300,000 tons of coal from Australia following an increase in coal prices at home, a PLN executive said.
PLN head for coal energy affairs Pudji Widodo said on Tuesday the company had placed orders with 24 coal producers in Australia.
"We are planning to import coal in order to meet our need for the fuel for our coal-fired power plants (PLTUs) in Suralaya, Tanjung Jati B and Paiton," he said.
He said the coal stock for PLTU Suralaya were now only enough for less than 30 days, for PLTU Tanjung Jati B for only 23 days while PLTU Cilacap had to stop operations last week.
Widodo said the PLTUs would be operated by PT Paiton Energy Company from December 2008 to March 2009.
He said coal producers at home had set their price at US$116 per ton while the price of coal to be imported from Australia was only US$94 per ton.