LAUNCESTON, Australia- Indonesia’s short-lived ban on exporting coal has sent ructions through the seaborne market for the fuel in Asia, with the fallout likely to last beyond the initial shortage of available cargoes.
The short-term impact of the sudden ban announced on Jan. 1 by the world’s largest exporter of the polluting fuel was to send prices for cargoes from other major shippers soaring back toward last year’s record highs.
The longer-term impact is that the key planks of being cheap and reliable, promoted by the coal industry in its battle for survival against cleaner energy alternatives, are seriously undermined.
