India is about to embark on a program of rapid coal sector acquisitions in Australia as it looks to plug a huge annual gap between supply and demand expected in the next three years.
State-owned Coal India, the world's biggest coal producer, has called for expressions of interest from potential coal mining partners by the end of August as it looks to fill unprecedented growth in local demand.
"The gap between coal demand on Coal India and envisaged domestic coal supply potential in 2011-12 is in excess of 200 million tonnes," Coal India said in the expression of interest document obtained by The Australian.
"The emerging business environment, therefore, necessitates immediate acquisition of coal resources abroad," the company said.
Australia and the US have been targeted for coking coal investment, with Indonesia and South Africa earmarked for thermal coal.
Under its 11th five-year development plan, India is aiming to provide all villages and houses below the poverty line with power and to boost economic growth to 10 per cent by 2011-12.
This is expected to push annual combined Indian demand for coking and thermal coal to more than 700 million tonnes a year.
Coal India produces about 420 million tonnes of coal a year and makes up the vast bulk of India's domestic coal production.
The expression of interest invitation says Coal India's short-term ambition is to buy equity stakes in operating mines and to tie up long-term offtake agreements to immediately start imports.
In the medium term, it is looking to take a larger stake in developing mines and new projects that would come into production in two or three years.
India's push for Australian coking coal assets comes as record Chinese demand is buoying the sector and traditional buyers are returning, though it is unclear how long this fresh demand will hold up.
India, which before China's recent surge was the second-biggest buyer of Australian coking coal after Japan, has little presence on the mining side here, which is dominated by global miners BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Xstrata, AngloAmerican and Peabody Energy.
ASX-listed Gujarat NRE Minerals, which is 82 per cent owned by Indian importer Gujarat NRE Coke, has two coking coal mines near Wollongong and hopes to boost production here from less than 1 million tonnes a year to 7 million tonnes a year.
Gujarat also has a hostile bid on the table for minnow Rey Resources, which has a large thermal coal resource in the Canning Basin in northern Western Australia that Rey wants to develop to feed Indian demand.
Some recent Indian estimates of the annual coal shortfall predict higher domestic production and see imports of only 50 million to 100 million tonnes a year.
However, Peabody president Rick Navarre last week said Indian officials had told him up to 200 million tonnes a year of imports would be needed over the next five years.
"Even if only half of this occurs, it is a tremendous demand increase for the seaborne markets," he said.
Source: The Australian
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