Russian coal production and exports keep rising

Russian coal production reached 210mn t in the first half, up by over 5pc on the year, on strong exports and higher domestic demand, data from state-run energy information agency CDU TEK show. Foreign-bound deliveries edged up by 2pc on the year to 93.6mn t, while shipments to the domestic market rose by 9pc on the year to over 90mn t in January-June.

Output is expected to further increase in the second half, reaching about 420mn t this year, up by 3pc from 2017 and exceeding the Russian energy ministry's earlier forecast of 410mn t for 2018. Higher output in the Kemerovo region will provide the large part of the total increase this year. Almost half of the total production or around 200,000t are expected to be exported, more than 187mn-188mn t forecast at the start of the year and higher than 181mn t exported in 2017.