Indonesia's coal, nickel output cuts spark #outcry from industry. A coal mine in #Kalimantan, Indonesia: Miners in the world's largest exporter of thermal coal are urging the government to #rethink production cuts to take advantage of a recent price jump in response to the #Iranwar. #Price Surge: Global thermal coal prices jumped roughly 13%–18% in early March 2026. This rally is driven by a "fuel switch" as the war effectively closed the Strait of #Hormuz, cutting off 20% of global liquefied natural gas (#LNG) supplies and forcing utilities in Japan and South Korea to shift back to coal. #Proposed Cuts: The Indonesian government originally planned to slash 2026 coal output by approximately 24%, targeting a cap of 600 million metric tonnes (down from 790 million in 2025). These cuts were intended to stabilize what were then "plunging" prices caused by oversupply and weak demand from China and India. #Industry Pushback: The Indonesian Coal Mining Association (#ICMA) has warned that the proposed quotas—which cut some individual miners' output by 40% to 80%—could lead to mass layoffs, loan defaults, and an inability to cover fixed operational costs. #Government Response: On March 2, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (#ESDM) revised its 2026 production target upward to 733 million tonnes. While this move eases some supply concerns, miners continue to urge for even more flexibility to "seize the momentum" of the current price spike. #Coalmining, #coal, #mining, #miner, #undergroundmining, #coalmine, #mininglife #Nickel, #Mining, #NickelMining, #Metals, #RawMaterials, #MiningIndustry, #MiningNews #metaltrading #pln #kadin #lme #mcx #commodity #BaseMetals #FuturesTrading #VaibhavSahu
