Coal Recovery Too Good to Resist for World’s Biggest Shipper

  • Indonesian miners bolstering supplies for domestic consumption
  • Thermal coal prices advanced to highest level in four years

A tug pulls a coal barge past the Islamic centre on August 26, 2016 in Samarinda, Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Photographer: Ed Wray/Getty Images
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Indonesia will exceed its coal production target for another year as miners cash in after prices recovered from a five-year collapse.

The world’s biggest exporter will produce about 489 million metric tons this year, 18 percent above the government-mandated target, according to energy ministry forecasts. That’s up from last year’s output estimated at 434 million tons and would be at least the third year in a row that the nation has produced more than it planned.