China, Russia sign 6 billion U.S. dollar coal agreement to develop Russian Far East resources

China Economic Network Beijing September 7 (reporter Yang Haiyang) According to Bloomberg News, the Chinese and Russian sides recently signed a bilateral agreement on energy cooperation in the Russian Far East city of Bragovisensk. The agreement stipulates that China will import at least 15 million tonnes of coal from Russia each year over the next 5 years, and that the amount of coal to be imported will increase to 20 million tonnes in 20 years.　　China offers Russia a total of 6 billion dollars in loans. Coal accounts for 80% of China's main raw materials for power generation and steelmaking, and China has recently sought to expand its resources from Mongolia and Australia to meet long-term needs. According to Russian statistics, China's imports of coal from Russia surged 15 times-fold in 2009, reaching 1209 tonnes, accounting for 10% of China's total offshore energy purchases.　　In the first half of 2010, China's total imports of coal from Russia reached 6 million tonnes, and Russia became one of the country's leading importers of coal. "China's push to import resources from neighboring countries is of strategic importance to ensuring energy security supplies," said Wu Jie, coal analyst at Asia Securities Limited (Orient Securities Ltd.).　　Given the modest growth, the purchase agreement will not have a big impact on China's domestic coal market and prices. In 2009, China imported coal from neighboring Russia at $87 a tonne, and 111 dollars per ton from Australia, according to the company's clients.　　For China, Russia has become the fourth-largest coal supplier since Australia, Indonesia and Vietnam. The agreement also involved the two sides will cooperate to establish joint ventures to jointly develop the Russian Far East Amur (Heilongjiang) region coal resources. The Russian side will also strengthen cooperation with China Shenhua Group in the fields of prospecting, mineral processing and infrastructure construction.