The good grade coal

Alexander Titov, senior expert at the Energy Department of the Institute for Energy and Finance, commented to Kommersant on the reasons for the increase in anthracite supplies to China.

According to the Customs Administration of the People's Republic of China, the average cost of importing Russian anthracite in March was at the level of $118 per ton. Export netbooks for Russian exporters of this type of solid fuel in the eastern ports of the Price Index Center are estimated at $31 per ton. Although the indicator has decreased by 45% since the beginning of the year, the profitability of anthracite supplies to the east significantly exceeds netbacks for energy and coking coals (see Kommersant, April 28). Russian anthracite continues to be exported from the ports of the northwest and south to Turkey and India, therefore, these supplies remain profitable even with a long sea route, Alexander Titov says.