Indonesia

SINGAPORE: China will buy $1.467 billion worth of thermal coal from Indonesia next year, the Indonesian Coal Mining Association (APBI) said on Wednesday.The trade deal was signed between APBI and China Coal Transportation and Distribution on Wednesday, according to APBI's statement."It is hoped that there will be an increase of coal exports to China by 200 million tonnes in the coming year," APBI said."The target quantity will be reviewed every year."Indonesia, the world's top exporter of thermal coal, has resorted to diplomatic channels to promote coal sales around Southeast Asia, particularly in Vietnam, as exports to China slowed.China's imports from Indonesia, the world's biggest shipper of thermal coal used in power plants, dropped 24.5% in the first 10 months of 2020 to 86.88 million tonnes, compared to 115.03 million during the same period last year, according to Refinitiv data. … [Read more...] about China and Indonesia sign $1.5 bln thermal coal deal

JAKARTA, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia recorded 5,534 new confirmed COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing its total tally to 511,836 with 16,225 deaths, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday. … [Read more...] about Indonesia reports 5,534 new COVID-19 cases, 114 new deaths

Last year, India, Thailand and Singapore began an annual exercise, which completed the second edition last week. The 24th edition of the Malabar naval exercise among India, Australia, Japan and the U.S. just concluded, with Canberra joining the exercise for the first time since 2017. … [Read more...] about India discussing more trilateral naval exercises

New Delhi: Thermal coal imports in China will increase in December as the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) wants to stabilize the price for QHD 5500 variety to below RMB 600 per tonne, global energy consultancy firm Woodmac said in a statement.The company said that market news is that the NDRC asked coal miners to increase supply at the end of September and that domestic supply increased in October to 336 million tonne, compared with 331 million tonne in September, or 325 Mt last October.However, the company's analysts opine that 20 Mt of additional coal should not be purchased for delivery to China in December. “Firstly, it would cause both seaborne coal prices and freight to immediately spike, which is not what the Chinese government wants. Secondly, unloading imported coal in Chinese ports will not be easy anytime soon as we estimate the ports are full of imported coal yet to clear," it added.It further added that the temperature in most of China in December … [Read more...] about China’s thermal coal imports to soar in December, says WoodMac

Singapore, now savouring a general election campaign, was the first Southeast Asian country to have alerted the world to the existence of Jemaah Islamiyah as a suspected regional affiliate of al-Qaeda. The City-State's first reaction to Osama's death was to emphasise the need for “continued vigilance and cooperation by all countries" against the “complex and long-term challenges [of] terrorism and the ideologies that perpetuate it.” … [Read more...] about East Asia on backlash alert