The Russian coal industry – one of the largest raw material sectors in Russia, employing 300,000 people and involving dozens of mono-communities – continues to slide into crisis. Thus, according to the results of the first quarter of this year, the net loss of Russian coal companies reached 79.9 billion rubles.

This is reported by The Moscow Times, citing a report by Rosstat.

On average , the coal industry was reportedly losing money at a rate of 26 billion rubles per month, or 900 million rubles ($11.44 million) per day .

62% of enterprises became unprofitable, having lost 126.3 billion rubles in three months. Less than 40% of coal miners remained in the black, and their profits collapsed threefold – to 46.4 billion rubles.

In terms of losses over the comparable period, the coal industry broke records for all time available statistics from Rosstat. The previous maximum was shown during the pandemic in 2020: then coal miners ended the first quarter with net losses of 45 billion rubles.

According to market sources, the Russian coal industry is experiencing “the most acute crisis since the 1990s”: the European Union embargo has deprived the company of Western markets, and world prices have collapsed to four-year lows – by 20% this year and three times – compared to 2022.

China, which has become the main buyer of Russian coal, last year reduced imports by 13% in physical volume and by 27% in money: as a result, Russian coal miners lost $3 billion in foreign exchange earnings. 

According to the Russian Ministry of Energy, 30 coal companies are at risk of bankruptcy . Rosstat statistics confirm: the coal industry has become the “champion” in terms of the volume of overdue loans and credits: by the end of the first quarter, this amount reached 25 billion rubles and jumped by 30% in March alone.

What is happening to Russia’s coal industry?

In early June of this year, it became known that the Russian government had taken steps to save the country’s coal companies . Thus, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin approved measures to support the industry, one of the most affected by sanctions, and separately for enterprises in Kuzbass, where most of Russia’s coal is mined.

It was previously reported that Russian coal companies are facing a decline in exports for the third year in a row . Last year, they managed to sell 195 million tons of products to foreign markets, which is 17.5 million tons less than a year earlier and 26.2 tons less than the figure for 2022.

It has previously been reported that the largest coal-producing regions in Russia have faced a sharp reduction in business tax revenues due to the problems of coal companies, which are suffering losses, losing exports, and are forced to reduce production.

In early September, it was reported that Russian coal companies faced a sharp deterioration in their financial condition in 2024. Thus, in the first half of the year, the coal industry’s pre-tax profit collapsed by 97%, that is, more than 33 times.

In November, it became known that the Central Bank of Russia would limit lending to large Russian companies that had already accumulated debts.

Author:  Halyna Yalivets Джерело: https://censor.net/n3557156

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