ASEAN mineral exports may triple

ASEAN mineral exports may triple

Bloomberg, Manila

Exports of minerals from a federation of five Southeast Asian nations may triple in three to five years because of rising global demand driven mainly by China and India.

Mineral exports from the five-member ASEAN Federation of Mining Associations may increase to much as $15 billion from about $5 billion this year, Philip Romualdez, the group's president said in Manila.

The group includes mining companies in the Philippines, Indonesia, Laos, Thailand and Malaysia.

"The region has a significant share of the world's minerals and its ability to capture the ongoing boom will come soon," Romualdez said in a briefing in Manila, where the association will hold a three-day conference starting on Tuesday.

Copper and nickel prices more than doubled last year from 2002 as demand rose from China and India, two of the world's fastest- growing economies.

Romualdez said ASEAN group account for about 5 percent of the world's mining revenue, which reached US$110 billion in 2003.

"Developments in India and China will be a plus for mining companies in Southeast Asia," said Beni Wahju, chairman of the Indonesian Mining Association.

"We should see big developments in a year or two."

Indonesia, the site of the world's largest gold mine, is seeking to increase mining investment to more than $2 billion a year, the level it reached in 1998.

By 2002 investment had declined to $480 million.

The Philippines government estimates that the nation has $840 billion of viable mineral resources and expects to receive $7 billion in investments, after the Supreme Court ruled in December that overseas companies can invest in large-scale mining projects.

"Between the Philippines and Indonesia, we have a significant percentage of the world's identified mineral resources," Romualdez said.

"It is a matter of positioning ourselves so that we can move in a sustained manner."

Romualdez said Philippine exports of minerals, which are expected to reach $1 billion this year, may grow to $2.5 billion by 2008.

He forecast that the Philippines will receive $830 million of mining investments from 2006 through 2008, which will generate $540 million in annual revenue.

The nation may get $5.5 billion of additional investments from 2009 to 2013, which will bring in annual estimated revenue of $2.3 billion, he said.