Russian coal miner KTK cuts exports 75% in 2024 with one plant halting operations, another working at 40% capacity

KEMEROVO. June 24 (Interfax) - JSC Kuzbasskaya Toplivnaya Company or KTK, a producer and supplier of D-grade thermal coal, sold 1.07 million tonnes of the product to overseas clients via JSC Russian Coal in 2024, the company said in its 2024 report.

The company said it "did not export coal directly to buyers" in 2024.

KTK exported 4.25 million tonnes of coal in 2023. As such, exports fell 75% last year.

"KTK mainly exported to China and Turkey in 2024, delivering coal via railway to export ports and to railway crossings on the border with China," the report reads. The company also exports to Belarus.

The company said that 0.98 million tonnes of coal, or 92% of total exports, had been shipped via the eastern ports of Sukhodol, Vanino, TransUgol, 65,500 tonnes or 6.1% via the western ports of Ust-Luga and Murmansk and 10,600 tonnes or 1% via Taman. Some 9,800 tonnes or 0.9% of exports were transported via Chinese border checkpoints.

KTK also halved coal production from 11.14 million tonnes to 5.8 million tonnes in 2024.

The company said in the report that it had produced 9.2 million tonnes of commercial, or processed, coal in 2023 and 5.4 million tonnes in 2024. "At the moment, the Kaskad washing plant has been forced to halt production, while Kaskad-2 is operating at 40% of capacity," it said.

KTK told Interfax that the Kaskad washing plant had paused operations in the second half of 2024. "We decreased [utilization at] the Kaskad-2 washing plant to 40% starting from March 2025 to avoid making losses," the company said.

The company said in its report that the number of employees at the Vinogradovsky section, its only mining asset, had decreased by 23.4% or 439 people.

The company said that its development plans "for 2025 and subsequent years" prioritized employee retention, the upkeep and maintenance of its machinery in working condition and the retention of "assets on the whole".

As part of its efforts to curb industry risks, KTK wrote that it had worked to develop supply chains for spare parts and equipment from China, applied for Russian-produced equipment via a new platform established by the Industry and Trade Ministry to substitute imports and "make up the shortage in spare parts" as well as "discussing possibilities for expanding additional employee benefits in order to attract new workers and retain the existing workforce".

It also said that it had appealed to the Russian Energy Ministry and Russian Railways "to improve the coal transportation situation".

KTK supplied 4.69 million tonnes of coal to the domestic market in 2024, versus 4.92 million tonnes in 2023, with the greatest proportion traditionally used to supply thermal power plants and housing and utilities companies in Western Siberia.

KTK's only mining asset is the Vinogradovsky strip mine, which combines the Vinogradovsky, Karakansky-Yuzhny, Cheremshansky and Listvyanichny sections and has a production capacity of 18 million tonnes of coal per year. KTK also has two washing plants with a total capacity of 7.2 million tonnes of coal per year, Kaskad-1 and Kaskad-2, a distribution network and infrastructure divisions. KTK only mines thermal coal.