Indonesia’s foreign minister said on Friday a halt on coal shipments to the Philippines will remain until Manila can secure its waters after seven Indonesian sailors were kidnapped, the latest in a string of abductions. It was unclear whether the sailors were taken by Abu Sayyaf, which has beheaded two Canadian nationals in recent weeks after ransom deadlines passed.
Indonesia supplies 70 percent of the Philippines’ coal import needs, which Indonesian data shows stood at about 15 million tons, worth around 800 million, last year.
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