The battle for resources between India and China has arrived in Indonesia, where Asia’s emerging giants are scrambling to secure the vast supplies of thermal coal needed to fire their electricity plants and power economic expansion.
But a shortage of attractive, large-scale producers for sale and restrictive business conditions are driving fierce competition for assets in the world’s leading exporter of the commodity.
Often unable to buy mines outright, Indian and Chinese companies have secured a series of billion-dollar deals in recent months, agreeing to invest heavily in the construction of railways, power plants and ports, in exchange for coal.