18 Nov 2009 17:03

Kuzbassrazrezugol cuts coal production 8% in 10 mths

KEMEROVO. Nov 18 (Interfax) - Kuzbassrazrezugol Coal Company, or KRU reduced coal production 7.9% year-on-year in January-October to 38.28 million tonnes, the company said.

Coking coal production fell 45.5% to 2.256 million tonnes in the ten months. The company has already achieves its target to produce 2.05 million tonnes of coking coal this year.

Coal sales fell 4.5% to 37.845 million tonnes, including 2.331 million tonnes of coking coal, down 42.2%. KRU exported 21.674 million tonnes of coal, up 22.8% year-on-year.

KRU, one of Russia's biggest coal producers, operates 11 strip mines in the Kuznetsk basin (Kuzbass). The company mined just over 50 million tonnes of coal in 2008, up 8% from 2007. It is targeting 46 million tonnes in 2009.