Reuters Indonesia's KPC agrees first major China coal deal

SINGAPORE, March 24 (Reuters) - Indonesian miner PT Kaltim Prima Coal last week agreed its first major long-term deal to sell thermal coal to China, with 1 million tonnes to be shipped in the first year, a top company official said on Tuesday.

"It is a long-term deal for supplying coal up to five years. In the first year we'll be supplying 1 million tonnes, in the second year it will rise to 2 million tonnes and will go up to 5 million tonnes," Evan Ball, director of KPC, told Reuters on the sidelines of a mining conference in Singapore.

He did not give any details on prices, saying they were in line with current spot market prices.

KPC is a unit of the country's biggest miner, PT Bumi Resources Tbk (BUMI.JK). It produced nearly 40 million tonnes in 2007, about a fifth of Indonesia's total output.

Indonesia's coal exports have surged over the past few years, making it the world's biggest seller of thermal coal and forcing miners to seek new markets including China, the world's biggest consumer and producer of coal, which is on the cusp of becoming a permament importer of the power plant fuel as well.

China imported over 11.5 million tonnes of Indonesian coal last year, accounting for more than a quarter of its total.

Imports in February rose to their highest in 22 months as a deadlock over domestic price details drove power plants to buy from abroad, where prices have fallen sharply. Benchmark Australian prices slumped last week to a 21-month low of $60, less than one-third their record high last year. (Reporting by Sambit Mohanty; Writing by Jonathan Leff; Editing by Ben Tan)