Kuznetsk Basin mulls exporting coal via Mariupol port

KEMEROVO. Aug 6 (Interfax) - Kemerovo Region acting Governor Ilya Seredyuk has instructed the regional coal and transport ministries to work with Kuznetsk Basin (Kuzbass) coal companies to explore the possibility of shipping their products through the Mariupol port in the Donetsk People's Republic (DRR), the regional government's press service reported.

"The information needed to make a decision is now being gathered. Many parameters need to be taken into account, including the cost of shipping the coal and the price for the services of the port itself," the press release said.

"If such a step turns out to be cost effective, we will be able to partly solve the problem with shipping out Kuzbass coal," Seredyuk said on Telegram after meeting in Donetsk with the chairman of the DRR government, Yevgeny Solntsev.

Kemerovo Region reduced coal exports by 7% year-on-year to 53.3 million tonnes in the first half of 2024.

"We have never loaded so badly, if we're counting since 2009. We now have a critical situation with coal shipments, so production is decreasing. For us, not even the price is currently the main reason for the decrease [...] We can't ship coal out of the Kuzbass," the region's coal industry minister, Oleg Tokarev said at a conference on coal mining issues in Kemerovo on August 1.

Mining companies in the region reduced coal production by 5.5% year-on-year to 102.8 million tonnes in the first half of 2024.