Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) has identified price discrepancies in coal trading chains, raising discussions over possible underinvoicing practices in coal exports, Bloomberg Technoz reported, citing a senior ministry official.

Director General of Mineral and Coal Tri Winarno said differences between export transaction prices and resale prices in international markets do not automatically indicate underinvoicing, as coal prices can vary due to commercial factors such as quality, delivery timing, contract terms and buyer premiums.

Tri gave an example of Indonesian coal being sold to Singapore at around $45/t, before being resold from Singapore to the final destination at $55/t. The price gap has prompted questions from the Ministry of Finance over whether such differences should be considered an indication of underreported export values.

However, Tri emphasized that the government already has the benchmark prices as a reference for assessing coal transactions. At the same time, actual market prices can differ depending on specific commercial arrangements.

"Two companies supplying coal to the same buyer may receive different premiums," Tri said, noting that some producers could obtain additional premiums of up to $10/t, while others may receive lower premiums or none at all.

The issue of potential underinvoicing has become one of the reasons behind the government's plan to establish a centralized export mechanism through PT Danantara Sumberdaya Indonesia (DSI), which is expected to act as an intermediary for strategic natural resource exports, including coal, palm oil and ferroalloys.

Tri said the current mineral and coal information system, Simbara, already provides extensive data, but additional oversight may be needed to identify whether export price discrepancies represent genuine commercial differences or potential underinvoicing practices.

He added that the future role of DSI would be to complement existing data systems by improving monitoring of export flows and transaction values.

"Data gaps that are not captured by Simbara are what DSI could help address, allowing the government to determine whether underinvoicing in the mining sector is actually occurring," Tri said.

Under the planned export arrangement, commercial relationships between coal producers and overseas buyers are expected to continue, while DSI would facilitate and supervise export distribution. The government said pricing methodologies would consider differences in coal quality, specifications, logistics costs and contract structures to ensure fair valuation without eliminating legitimate market variations.

The policy comes as Indonesia seeks to strengthen oversight of strategic commodity exports and ensure that export revenues are accurately reflected in official records.