Energy Ministry expects Russian Railways to offer discounts on transporting coal exports

MOSCOW. March 17 (Interfax) - The Energy Ministry expects Russian Railways (RZD) to offer discounts on transporting coal exports, Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev said during a meeting on the development of the coal industry.

"I hope that RZD will provide discounts so that we can at least break even on [coal] export transportation," he said.

"We need to ensure that flows to the west and east are profitable for coal industry enterprises," Tsivilev said.

The current task is to preserve the Russian coal industry, he said.

"On April 1, there will be a strategic session chaired by the prime minister, where the coal industry will be discussed," Tsivilev said.

The Energy Ministry said in the autumn of last year that it considered it important for RZD to conclude agreements for 2025 on coal transportation towards the east with all coal-producing regions that had such agreements in 2024, as well as to create new agreements for the northwest and the south. The ministry also proposed the reintroduction of reducing coefficients and discounts on coal transportation towards the west to stimulate supplies to the ports of the northwest and south of the country.

In January 2025, RZD and the Kuzbass signed an agreement on the export of 54.1 million tonnes of coal towards the east in 2025, which corresponds to the parameters of the agreement in effect in 2024.

In 2024, coal production amounted to 443.5 million tonnes, with 196.2 million tonnes exported, according to data provided by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak in January. However, according to Rosstat, the net loss of Russian coal companies in 2024 amounted to 112.6 billion rubles, compared to a profit of 374.7 billion rubles the previous year.

It is planned that Russian coal production in 2025 will be at the same level as 2024, the Energy Ministry said.