In 2017, Mongolia had been planning to export a total of 11.5 million tonnes of coal to China; however, coal export has slowed due to the limited capacity at the border crossing on the Chinese border; this has resulted in queues of almost 100 km. This problem had been caused by the sharp increase of coal sales to China and Beijing’s apparent failure to extend its border crossing to meet demand.

In the year to date, Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi JSC has exported a total of 7.5 million tonnes of coal to China; 2.7 million tonnes from its West Tsankhi sector and 4.8 million tonnes from the East Tsankhi sector.

As a result of the queues and congestion on the border, the coal stock is building up at the Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi JSC mine; currently this has risen to 3.6 million tonnes of coal.