Coal Survey Exercise– coal industry

Open the files Old_Coal_Survey.pdf and Prototype_New_Coal_Survey.xlsx. Study the two questionnaires for 10 minutes and identify the main similarities and differences.

You are a representative from the Statislandcoal industry. You have just arrived in Jakarta after two days of consultations with your coal industry colleagues regarding the new prototype coal survey that is being proposed by the energy ministry. You have received many concerns about the new questionnaire from your colleagues and they are expecting that you will present these concerns to the government representatives. Among their concerns are:

  1. The prototype questionnaire is much longer and more detailed than the previous questionnaire. It will require more time and resources to complete the questionnaire. The coal industry is already suffering from lower coal prices on the market and this increased reporting burden will reduce profits even more because staff will be working on completing the questionnaire instead of mining coal.
  2. The prototype questionnaire requests data on the average calorific values of the raw coal, metallurgical coal and thermal coal production and disposition. To calculate these averages requires that many measurements be made in the laboratory. This will add costs to the production. The coal industry is already suffering with low global coal prices and cannot influence or change these prices, so revenue is fixed. If costs are increased because of all this coal testing, then the Indonesian coal industry will become uncompetitive.
  3. The prototype questionnaire requests data on coal sales to several sectors, including industry and residential. Very often coal is sold to a middle-man who then sells it to his clients. The coal producers do not know who the middle-man has sold the coal to, so it will not be possible to complete the questionnaire properly.

For the next 30 minutes, discuss your concerns with your colleague from the statistics office and energy ministry. Try to understand their point of view but also raise your points of concern. Remain professional and cordial during the discussions but try to emphasize that this new, increased level of reporting will increase the costs of doing business and will affect the competitiveness of the industry.

Note your conclusions in the box below so that you can discuss them in the group later.

LIST THE OF THE STATISTICAL OFFICE AND THE ENERGY MINISTRY AND THE SUCCESS IN OBTAINING YOUR NEEDS IN THE QUESTIONAIRE