Russian rail freight volumes declined 2.9% in March, 4.1% in Q1
MOSCOW. April 1 (Interfax) - Freight volumes on Russia's railways declined 2.9% in March year-on-year to 104.9 million tonnes, Russian Railways said in a press release.
Freight turnover in March was down 4.2% to 182.8 billion tonne-kilometers (or down 2% to 234.7 billion tonne-kilometers including empty railcar mileage).
Freight volumes in the first three months of the year were down 4.1% to 293.9 million tonnes, including 64.4 million tonnes of oil and product (down 2.2%), 33.9 million tonnes of construction materials (down 8.7%), 17.9 million tonnes of iron and steel (down 6.2%), 8.9 million tonnes of forest products (down 7%), 6.8 million tonnes of chemicals and soda (down 4.2%), 6.8 million tonnes of industrial raw and formed materials (down 8%), 6.4 million tonnes of cement (down 0.9%), 4.9 million tonnes nonferrous ores and raw sulfur (down 11.6%), 3 million tonnes of coke (down 2.6%), 2.8 million tonnes of iron and steel scrap (down 10%) and 2.4 million tonnes of grain (down 53.5%).
First quarter freight volumes increased 0.3% to 78 million tonnes for bituminous coal, 0.5% to 26.6 million tonnes for iron and manganese ores, and 2% to 11.7 million tonnes for chemical and mineral fertilizers.
Freight turnover in the first quarter was down 5% to 525.3 billion tonne-km (down 4% to 672.3 billion tonne-km including empty railcar mileage).
