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According to information released by the Russian analysis agency CCAAnalytics on September 7, from January to July 2024, the total amount of Russian coal exports fell to 0.1166 billion tons, 11.6 million tons less than the same period last year, a year-on-year decrease of 9.0 percent.
Seaborne data tracked by Kpler ships show that from January to July 2024, Russian seaborne coal exports totaled 93.2057 million tons, down 15.8 percent from the same period last year. Among them, in July, Russia's seaborne coal exports were 14.0135 million tons, down 14.1 percent year-on-year and 2.3 percent month-on-month. At the same time, the customs data of the Russian Federation also showed that in July, Russia's coal exports all declined year-on-year. The coal export volume in that month was 14.96 million tons, down 8.6 per cent from the same period last year and 1 per cent from the previous month.Russian coal company losses severely curb coal exportsAccording to information released by the CCAAnalytics, in the first half of this year, the loss of Russian coal companies expanded by 3.4 times, reaching 1.1 billion US dollars, exceeding the total profit of 0.9 billion US dollars in the same period, and the total profit in the first half of the year fell by 71.9 per cent compared with the same period last year. As a result, the net profit-loss offset is nearly $80 million compared to a profit of $3.2 billion in the same period in 2023. Coal companies' losses rose to 51% from 36% in the same period last year.The last time the Russian coal industry posted a net loss was in 2020, when it was $0.4 billion billion. In 2023, Russian Coal's profits fell 2.1-fold to $4 billion, a year-on-year decrease of $4.7 billion. However, in 2024, the loss trend is further intensified due to the decline in global coal market prices and the sharp rise in production costs. Other factors that continue to adversely affect the financial performance of coal mining companies include limited rail infrastructure transport capacity, high rail freight rates and Western sanctions. For many Russian suppliers, current global price levels and production costs make coal exports unprofitable, forcing them to cut production and abandon new coal mining projects designed to be developed. With new U.S. sanctions now covering about 50% of exports, Russian coal exports are likely to continue to decline in the next few months of 2024 and into 2025.