The last slowdown was not due to an ideological dispute, but a currency convertibility argument. However, new horizons have recently emerged for cross-border exchange. With RFE authorities strongly opposing the Tumenjiang project, the importance of southern Russian seaports has grown.
Japanese industry can use about eight mt, while the Russian market needs at least one mt.
These figures had no impact on the transport scheme, and Japan carried on importing coal from Australia. As a result, Mishan coal prices became more competitive and Sino-Russian tensions eased. One surprising subject of Sino-Russian talks was transporting coal from Heilongjiang through Vostochny Port to China's southern maritime provinces. Trilateral negotiations between China, Japan and Russia are shaping the coal consortium, with investment capital coming mainly from Marubeni. One example is the Suifenhe-Grodekovo crossing, where present throughput capacity does not exceed 1.5 mt.