Russia's Kuzbass region sees coal production fall 8.4% in 2024 - governor

KEMEROVO. Dec 11 (Interfax) - Coal enterprises in the Kemerovo region will produce 196 million tonnes of coal in 2024, the region's governor Ilya Serdyuk said during a 'direct line' meeting on Wednesday.

"In the current year we are planning that we will produce less than last year, around 196 million tonnes of coal," he said.

As reported, coal production in the Kuznetsk coal basin or Kuzbass stood at 214.2 million tonnes last year. The figure for 2024 thus represents a decline of 8.4%.

The reduced figure is due to the reorientation of sales markets to the east amid Western countries' refusal to purchase Russian coal, as well as difficulties with the throughput capacity of Russian railways in the eastern direction, he said.

The region's budget has already lost 56 billion rubles in corporate income tax revenue due to the situation in the coal industry, Serdyuk said. "We estimate that this figure will reach a deficit of 65 billion rubles by the end of the year. This is an enormous sum for the region, significantly constraining our development potential," he said.

The results of the coal industry account for between one third and 40% of the regional budget, Serdyuk said. "We are essentially dependent on the volume of production. Production can be reduced, but then if we analyze the economics of each enterprise, fixed costs increase. This means the enterprise does not make a profit and does not pay tax on profit to the budget," he said.

As reported, coal enterprises saw coal production fall 8.2% year-on-year in 10M 2024 to 163.8 million tonnes. Data for 11M has not yet been disclosed.