President Director of PT Bukit Asam Tbk (PTBA) Arsal Ismail said that his party has started targeting exports to Vietnam amidst the US-China tariff war. "Recently, we have started entering Vietnam. Until the first quarter of 2025, we can still maintain and meet demand from export activities," said Arsal, in a press conference in Jakarta, Monday (14/4/2025). This, he continued, is one of PTBA's strategies following the projection of a decrease in demand from Indonesia's export destination countries such as China and India due to excess coal supply and uncertainty from the US-China tariff war. "Indonesia will be affected by this US-China tit-for-tat tariff war. However, the government quickly negotiated and made various breakthroughs so that the impact on us can at least be anticipated," he said.
On the other hand, he ensured that PTBA remains on track regarding the follow-up to their development projects this year. Some of them are the development of renewable energy which includes the pilot plant of Wood Pellet from Kaliandra Merah in Tanjung Enim, South Sumatra, the Solar Power Plant (PLTS) at Soekarno-Hatta Airport which is a collaboration with PT Angkasa Pura II (Persero). Then the collaboration with Jasa Marga Group for the development of PLTS on toll roads, as well as collaboration with PT Semen Baturaja Tbk (SMBR) in the construction of a PLTS with a capacity of 23.07 kilowatt peak (kWp). Furthermore, there is also coal downstreaming carried out through a pilot project for converting coal into Artificial Graphite and Anode Sheet with the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), a coal transportation project in Tanjung Enim with PT Kereta Api Indonesia (Persero), and programs to support decarbonization.
