Russia reduced coal exports in the first half of the year by 9%, to 98 million tons

Alexander Titov commented to Infotech on the reasons for the decline in coal exports from Russia following the results of the 1st half of 2024.

According to the results of the first half of 2024, Russia reduced the volume of coal exports by 9%, to 88 million tons, the Institute for Energy and Finance calculated.

FIEF senior expert Alexander Titov @IEFnotes explained to Infotech that the reasons for the decline were the low profitability of exporting thermal coal through western ports of Russia, as well as the suspension of coal shipments through the port of Taman for a month.

"The Eastern landfill cannot fully compensate for the decline in the West, because there is a lot of competition for transportation capacity," he said.

The expert noted that in the second half of the year it is hardly worth waiting for a repeat of the negative dynamics of exports in January-June 2024. In his opinion, the shipment through the port of Taman will be restored after the decision of OTEKO to reduce the transshipment rates for coal miners.

"But I also do not see any drivers of active growth compared to the second half of 2023. Starting in September, the export duty on thermal coal will return, which means that the export economy will sink again. So by the end of the year, the volume of exports will decrease," Titov stressed.

He added that the basket of Russian coal buyers has remained stable for six months. China takes half of the volume, followed by India, Turkey, Japan and Korea.

"It is difficult to find new buyers in Southeast Asia, but slowly some small volumes are going to Vietnam, Thailand, etc.," he noted.