More than 30 coal enterprises in Russia's Kuzbass in red zone, 8 will not resume mining - governor

KEMEROVO. April 8 (Interfax) - Coal mining in Kuzbass is showing a steady decline; 33 coal enterprises in the region are in the red zone, 17 have suspended operations and eight of them will not resume coal mining, Kemerovo region Governor Ilya Seredyuk said while delivering a report on the Kuzbass regional authorities' work in 2025 to the regional parliament.

Seredyuk did not specify which enterprises he was referring to.

"For the third year in a row, Kuzbass has been operating under extremely difficult conditions. There have been many economic crises and challenges in the region's history, but this one is merciless. Extremely unfavorable factors have piled up simultaneously. Coal mining in Kuzbass has faced a sustained decline for the first time in 20 years. Over 2025, production fell by 7.6 million tonnes compared to 2024. The decline was 11% over two years [the period 2024-2025]. If in 2018 Kuzbass mined 255.3 million tonnes of coal, today the region has returned to the level of 2011 in terms of this indicator," he said.

During a live broadcast at the end of October 2025, Seredyuk said that 18 coal mining enterprises had been suspended in Kuzbass, and 30 were in the red zone. The exact number of enterprises that would not resume mining was not disclosed at the time.

Coal companies continue to incur losses, resulting in, among other things, the regional budget receiving less revenue, Seredyuk said. "If previously coal miners formed 40% of our budget revenues, now it is only 18%. Over 2025, the budget received 36 billion rubles less. And in total, if you count two years, 2024 and 2025, we received 120 billion rubles less compared to 2023. You know that for this reason we were unable to finance a number of very important projects in 2025. And we formed the 2026 budget with great difficulty," he said.

Coal mining enterprises "were forced to optimize their economics and headcount. Over the year it decreased by 7,000 people," he said.

He also recalled that the distance from ports reduces the competitiveness of Kuzbass coal. "The average distance to ports from our region is 4,000 km in any direction, both west and east. This means a many times greater logistical burden, increased production costs, and reduced competitiveness in foreign markets. And every Kuzbass coal car travels across half the country before being exported. In these conditions, exporting products is a matter of the industry's survival," he said.

In addition, due to the difficult situation in the coal industry, production has also declined in other basic sectors of the Kuzbass economy, he said. Production fell 1.2% in mechanical engineering, 8.3% in metallurgy and almost 14% in the chemical industry.