Russia is planning to exploit trade tensions between Australia and China to move large quantities of its low-quality coal into the Chinese market and the rest of Asia. Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with industry executives and government officials to discuss plans for drastically increasing coal export to Asia by up to 30 percent, according to a Wood Mackenzie report obtained by The Australian. The report detailed a plan to increase Russian coal exports to an estimated increase of over 34 million tonnes by 2024 and comes after Russia announced it would increase its domestic coal production up to 448-530 million tonnes annually until 2024 and up to 485-668 million tonnes annually until 2035 reports ResourceWorld Magazine. Australian Strategic Policy Institute director Michael Shoebridge believes that Moscow’s plan is of little consequence to Australia’s coal export industry. “Australian coal, like multiple other natural resources, remains a high quality, high volume, …