Kuzbass cuts coal production 3.4% in Jan-Aug
KEMEROVO. Sept 17 (Interfax) - Russia's coal-rich Kemerovo region, home to the Kuznetsk coal basin or Kuzbass, produced 161.9 million tonnes of coal in January-August 2019, down 6 million tonnes or 3.4% from the same period last year, the regional administration's Coal Industry Department told Interfax.
This included 50 million tonnes of coking coal, up 7.1% year-on-year, and 111.9 million tonnes of steam coal, down 7.7%.
Open-cast mines produced108.3 million tonnes of coal, up 0.2%, and deep mines produced 53.6 million tonnes, down 10.4% from a year previously.
Coal shipments by rail came to 19.2 million tonnes in august, compared with 18.6 million tonnes in July and 17.7 million tonnes in June 2019, and 19.5 million tonnes in August 2018. An average daily 8,725 gondola cars were dispatched per day, 1% less than planned.
Overall coal shipments came to 17.3 million tonnes in August, with 12.8 million tonnes exported, 2.5 million tonnes shipped to Russian steel mills and coking plants and 1.25 million tonnes to power plants.
Coal inventory on September 1 was level with a month earlier at 19.2 million tonnes.