Executive summary

Natural resources sectors such as mining, oil, gas, hydro, and forestry plantations are an integral component of most developing economies in the Asia-Pacific region, thereby making them attractive investment sectors for both transnational corporations (TNCs) and state-owned enterprises (SOEs). The region produces well over a quarter of the world’s crude oil and natural gas, over 60% of the world’s coal, sizeable percentages of other metals and minerals, and nearly a third of all energy produced from hydropower. It is also the world leader in exports of intensive plantation commodities such as timber, rubber and palm oil. China is the world leader in coal and timber. It also produces a fair amount of oil and gas, has the highest number of hydropower dams, and has the second largest non-fuel mining sector in the world. Oil and natural gas production are concentrated in the Russian Federation. Australia is the world leader in mineral production, though Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines also have significant mineral mining sectors. Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand have the world’s largest rubber and palm oil plantations.

Related Subject(s): International Trade and Finance