China Shenhua Energy Co (SHA: 601088), the nation's top energy producer, has received the permit to buy 6 pieces of farmland in the Australian state of New South Wales for a massive animal husbandry project, people with knowledge of the matter has said. "I don't think Shenhua is going to raise cows there; they are coveting local coals instead," Li Chaolin, a market watcher with Cctd.com.cn told the National Business Daily. Shenhua paid A$300 million last year for the rights to a NSW coalmine spanning 190 km2 with 1 billion metric tons of recoverable coals as its stepped into the international resources sector. China's demand for coal will rise to 3.2 billion tons in 2010 from 2.3 billion tons in 2006, Morgan Stanley has estimated.

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Source: http://company.nbd.com.cn/newshtml/20090722/20090722025710181.html