China growth means coal is the new gold

Coal prices are set to rise by more than 50 percent this year as demand for power to fuel growth in China and other emerging economies helps make it a recession-proof commodity, a top analyst said on Wednesday.

In China alone, power generating capacity is expected to rise to 950 gigawatts in 2010, up from current capacity of 713 gigawatts. Coal supplies 80 percent of current capacity, and will contribute even more to the expansion.