The loading volumes of coal for export moved into positive territory in June for the first time since the beginning of 2020. By the end of the month, 16 million tons of solid fuel were delivered on the Russian Railways network, 1.9% more than in June last year.
The increase in export loading volumes was mainly due to rising shipments to the port stations of North Caucasus Railways, which was up by 17.9%, and the Far Eastern Railways, which saw an increase of 4.1%.
In June 2020, a total of 26.3 million tons of coal were shipped on the Russian Railways’ network, a decline of 4.7% compared to June 2019, including 10.4 million tons which were shipped on domestic routes, a fall of 13.3%.
During the first half of 2020, the loading volume of coal amounted to 168 million tons, a fall of 10.1% compared to the same period of 2019, including 73.4 million tons on domestic routes, a decline of 9.7%, and 94.6 million tons which were forexport, down by 10.3%.
In the first six months of the year, 102.2 million tons of coal were shipped from the Kuzbass, including 63.9 million tons for export, a decline of 13.5% on the same period last year, while 38.3 million tons were transported on domestic routes, a fall of 2.1%. Coal from the Kuzbass accounted for 60.8% of the total loading volume of these products, up slightly from 60.5%.
In the first half of 2020, Russian Railways fulfilled all its obligations to the coal companies in the Kuzbass to transport goods.
Despite a significant increase in demand for the delivery of other goods to Russia’s East, January to June 2020 saw 27.5 million tons of coal shipped from the Kuzbass to Russia’s Far East region, an increase of 0.1% on the plan enshrined in the agreement between Russian Railways and the Administration of the Kemerovo Region, including 25.9 million tons which wereexported, an increase of 0.1%, while 1.6 million tons weredispatched on domestic routes, up 0.5% on the plan.
Loading volumes of coal from the Kuzbass which were shipped to Russia’s South in the first half of 2020 amounted to 11 million tons, which was higher than the planned value by 4.7%. The 8.5% decrease in domestic transport volumes to 5.3 million tons was offset by a significant increase in export shipments of 21.2% to 5.6 million tons, which in June increased by a factor of 2.1 to 1.2 million tons.
Only 30.2 million tons of solid fuel were delivered to Russia’s North-West in the first half of the year due to a reduction in shipments by coal companies, 6.5% less than the plan agreed by Russian Railways, including 23.4 million tons of coal which were exported, a decline of 7.1% on the plan, and 6.8 million tons delivered on domestic routes, a fall of 4.4%.
Since the beginning of July, however, the trend has changed dramatically. Loading volumes shipped towards the North-West increased by 18.6% from the beginning of July to the 12 day of the month, with exports up by 19.6% and domestic routes by 14.6%.