Soaring Coal Prices Fuel Shares Of Indonesian Coal Company, Mints New Billionaire

The share price of Jakarta-listed coal company Prima Andalan Mandiri more than doubled in the past year to 7,125 rupiah on Wednesday, making Eddy Sugianto, 76, Indonesia’s newest billionaire with a net worth of $1.2 billion.

Sugianto’s family owns around 70% of the company directly and indirectly through holding companies Edika Agung Mandiri and Prima Andalan Utama. Sugianto has been president commissioner of Prima Andalan Mandiri since 2005. He graduated from Tjheng Qiang Chinese School in 1963.

Prima Andalan Mandiri was founded in 2005 by Edika Agung Mandiri and Prima Andalan Utama. In 2011 it acquired coal miner Mandiri Intiperkasa, coal contractor Mandala Karya Prima and coal shipping company Maritim Prima Mandiri. It obtained coal contracts in 1994 for a 50,000-hectare area in North Kalimantan, one of Indonesia’s coal hubs. Mandiri Intiperkasa began production in 2004 and has since then sold the coal under the brand Mandiri Coal.

Prima Andalan Mandiri is among the coal companies in Indonesia, the largest exporter of thermal coal globally, that benefits from the soaring coal prices. Australia’s Newcastle thermal coal benchmark futures for December 2022 jumped 181% to $330 a tonne on Tuesday from $117.55 a tonne in the past year. The price hit an all-time high of $442.8 a tonne on September 21.

As a result of the soaring price, Prima Andalan Mandiri posted revenue of $746.5 million in the first nine months of 2022, almost double from the same period a year earlier, while its net profit was $256.2 million, up from $129.1 million.

Tight supply due to the wet season in Australia, strong demand from India and the energy crisis in Europe have propelled coal prices globally this year, according to a Fitch Ratings report. Jonathan Guyadi, an analyst at Samuel Sekuritas Indonesia, said in an October report that “coal may remain elevated for a while” due to extreme weather conditions till early next year that would affect coal production, increased demand during the winter season and Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Amid rising prices, the Indonesian government has set the national coal output this year at 663 million tonnes, up 8.7% from 610 million tonnes in 2021, with 25% allocation for the domestic market. In response to this target, Indonesian coal companies, including Prima Andalan Mandiri, also pumped up their productions. In 2021, Prima Andalan Mandiri produced 7.5 million tonnes of coal, or a 25% increase from 2020. By end of this year, the company expects to produce 9.5 million tonnes of coal.

Prima Andalan Mandiri listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in September last year by offering 355.5 million shares, or 10% of the company, for 504.9 billion rupiah. The proceeds were used for additional paid-up capital in its subsidiary Mandala Karya Prima, which later used the capital for purchasing heavy equipment and working capital.