A Moscow-based analyst is quoted in Bloomberg as saying that Australia’s coal industry hasn’t fully recovered from last year’s flooding and even mild rainfall in Queensland could pose “serious problems” for producers.

“Russia’s exporters of coking coal are arguably the only alternative to Australian producers for Asian steelmakers,” UralSib analyst Dmitry Smolin reportedly said.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has said Russia should be a position to boost its coal exports to Asia, where demand for coal was surging.

He has pledged more than $US8 billion to develop Russia’s coal industry and assist with exports as it seeks to ramp up production to 430 million tonnes by 2030.

"We need not only to maintain our market position but also expand it, particularly in the promising markets of the Asia-Pacific region,” he said.

Russia is the world's third-largest coal exporter and has opened or expanded a number of Far Eastern ports recently including SUEK's Vanino and Mechel's Posyet.

The country also has a number of projects being developed to supply this market, such as Mechel's Elga mine in the Sakha Republic as well as a series of undeveloped properties in the southern Siberian Republic of Tuva.