Indonesian Low-CV Coal (3,400–4,200 GAR)

Sub-bituminous and lignite below 4,200 GAR, priced against HBA and ICI 4, loaded barge-to-vessel in Kalimantan

Indonesia's low-CV coal is the bottom of the GAR ladder — 3,400, 3,800 and 4,200 kcal/kg gross as received — and it is bought by boilers built for it: circulating fluidised-bed units in India, China and Southeast Asia and pulverised-coal plants designed around Indonesian fuel. The 4,200 GAR contract is the reference grade; the standard lower rejection is 4,000 GAR, total moisture runs in the 30–38% band typical of Indonesian sub-bituminous coal, sulphur is low and ash is low, which is why a boiler that can dry the fuel gets cheap, clean heat. The coal sits in HS 2701.12 when it is bituminous by the customs test and in HS 2702.10 as lignite when it is not; UN Comtrade 2024 export declarations under HS 2702.10 put Indonesia at 152.0 million MT of lignite at an average USD 48/MT, of which China took 148.6 million MT, with Korea (1.55 million MT), Pakistan (0.51 million MT) and India (0.43 million MT) the next buyers; in Indonesia's own statistics lignite was 23% of coal export volume in April 2026. Price has two anchors. Since 1 March 2025 the government's HBA reference price is the mandatory minimum for export sales, set on the 1st and 15th of each month in four tiers (HBA, HBA I, II and III) under Government Regulation 96/2021; the market anchor is the ICI 4 index for 4,200 GAR, and index-based FOB South Kalimantan indications published on 18 September 2026 put 4,200 GAR at USD 79.00/MT. Royalty is tiered on HBA — 14% to 28% for IUPK holders across HBA bands from USD 70 to over USD 100/MT under the 2022 regulation — and a share of production is reserved for the domestic market at capped prices (USD 70/MT for power generation, USD 90/MT for industry), both of which the seller's netback already carries.

Logistics is where a low-CV cargo is won or lost, because the coal moves twice before it reaches the buyer's ship. It is trucked or conveyed to a river jetty in East or South Kalimantan, loaded onto 300-foot barges, towed down river and out to an anchorage — Muara Berau off East Kalimantan alone exported 40.9 million MT in 2023 — where floating cranes transfer it to the mother vessel at around 12,000 MT a day and transshippers at 15,000–18,000 MT a day. That barge leg is domestic carriage, and under Indonesia's Shipping Law 17/2008 (third amendment, Law 66/2024) coal is one of thirteen commodities that only Indonesian-flag vessels may carry between Indonesian points, so the barge, tug and floating crane are Indonesian and the foreign-flag bulk carrier waits at the anchorage. Supramax and Panamax are the usual ships. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers 3,400, 3,800 and 4,200 GAR coal from Kalimantan and Sumatran IUP and IUPK holders and their trading arms against SGS, Sucofindo or Intertek certification of GAR, total moisture, ash, sulphur and size at the anchorage, with the pro rata calorific adjustment and rejection level written into the contract, on FOB anchorage and CFR terms; because CBIL also runs a chartering desk (LaycanDesk), the mother-vessel leg is quoted alongside the cargo. Send your design CV, moisture band, monthly tonnage and discharge port and we will work the mine to them.

Need the ship as well? Our chartering desk prices coal and petcoke bulk freight on LaycanDesk.

Excluded origins are not offered, including product re-exported, blended or re-processed through a third country. Every lot moves with a certificate of origin naming the producing plant, mine or grower country, and nothing is quoted before the seller and loading point are known.