The bulk of Bengklu coal was exported to several countries including Malaysia, Thailand, India and Japan, while part of it was also channeled to meet domestic demand, head of Bengkulu province`s trade, cooperatives and small and medium enterprises, M Darwin, said.
In addition, he said, there were two other prime export commodities, namely rubber and oil palm shell which are quite dominant. The three non-oil export commodities of Bengkulu province generated a foreign exchange income of US$ 270.3 million with a volume of 1.7 million tons.
Darwin said the three most widely Bengkulu commodities exported in 2010 was coal as much as 1.5 million tonnes and generated foreign exchange amounted to US$145.3 million.
The others were rubber yield of 38.3 tons and US$120.9 million as well as oil palm shells as much as 109.8 tonnes with a value of US$4.074 million.
The coal is exported to Malaysia, Thailand, India and Japan, while the export of processed rubber to the United States and palm kernel shells is exported to Thailand, Darwin explained.
Meanwhile, the services manager of Pelabuhan Indonesia II Bengkulu, H Amin said, the coal export from Bengkulu port during 2010 recorded 1.5 million ton increased from an initial target of 1.2 million tonnes.
He said, though shallow flow conditions during 2010, the coal exports remained to run due to dozens of barges with capacity of 30 tons assisted to carry the load into a large vessel which rests near Tikus island or three miles from the shore.
The commodities exported from the Baai island port, Bengkulu currently are coal, crumb rubber and palm kernel shells, while the other commodities such as coffee, cacao and crude palm oil (CPO) are shipped from the other regions, Amin said.
(T.KR-LWA/HAJMA014)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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