Russian coal industry profit drops by 93% amid sanctions and loss of clients – The Moscow Times

Profitable companies accumulated 72 billion rubles ($840.4 million) of profit in January-April 2024, while unprofitable companies recorded 58 billion rubles ($677 million) of loss. In total, the Russian coal industry made 14 billion rubles ($163.4 million) in profit. This is almost 200 billion ($2.3 billion) less than in the same period a year earlier.

Less than half of the industry's companies ended the first four months of 2024 in the black, although a year ago there were two-thirds of them, and their total financial result was reduced threefold. At the same time, one in two companies, according to official statistics, became unprofitable (52.4%).

"Cut off from Western markets by sanctions, coal companies are rapidly losing clients in countries that the Kremlin calls 'friendly,'" the newspaper writes. 

In the first quarter, Russian coal exports decreased by 13%, and in March the decline reached 17%. Every month, the industry lost about 3 million tons of exports, and prices for Russian coal fell to a three-year low: $95 per ton in the ports of the Far East (-6% since the beginning of the year), $72 per ton in Taman (-13% since the beginning of the year), and only $61 in the ports of the Baltic Sea (-14%).

India, which accounts for about a third of Russia's coal exports, reduced purchases by 22% to 6.76 million tons in March-May, NV reported earlier. Exports to Turkiye, South Korea, and Japan also fell.

China, the largest buyer of Russian raw materials, has imposed an import duty on coal that does not apply to other suppliers, such as Indonesia and Australia, which are members of the free trade zone with China.

India's largest steel company stopped buying Russian coal in May 2022.