Raspadskaya not planning to reduce exports, diversifying sales with Indian market

MOSCOW. April 27 (Interfax) - PJSC Raspadskaya , a major Russian coal producer, is actively developing Asia-Pacific markets, particularly India and China, and does not plan to reduce exports.

"The composition of the company's main clientele changed in 2022 under the influence of sanctions - shipments to Ukraine stopped, while European Union countries imposed an embargo on coal imports from Russia. However, these developments opened new opportunities for expanding [the company's] presence on Asian markets and increasing shipments to India," Raspadskaya said in its annual report.

Raspadskaya expects China and India to remain the biggest markets for Russian coal in 2023.

Given the congestion on Russia's eastern railway corridor, Raspadskaya is developing export shipments through western routes. The company also said it plans to soon expand its portfolio with rare types of coal, which will enable it to strengthen its position on the international market and attract new customers.

India increased coal imports to 56.7 million tonnes in 2022 from 43.4 million tonnes a year earlier. The country's main suppliers were Australia and the United States, but imports from Russia tripled to 3.2 million tonnes from 1 million tonnes.

Raspadskaya said the main export markets for Russian coking coal in 2022 were China, to which exports doubled to 21.1 million tonnes, or 63.8% of total exports, from 10.7 million tonnes in 2021. India followed with 9.7% of total exports, and South Korea was third, although exports to this country tumbled to 2.3 million tonnes, or 6.9% of the total, from 5.1 million tonnes a year earlier.

Main markets for Russian coking coal (mln tonnes):

Market 2020 2021 2022* Share of total Total 28.2 29.5 33.0 China 6.3 10.7 21.1 63.8% India 1.2 1.0 3.2 9.7% South Korea 5.1 5.1 2.3 6.9% Japan 4.1 3.7 2.2 6.8% Vietnam 1.0 1.3 1.1 3.5% Ukraine 5.0 5.6 0.7 2.2% Indonesia 0.6 0.5 0.4 1.2% Turkey 0.9 0.3 0.3 0.8% Others 4.0 1.2 1.7 5.2%

* Source: Raspadskaya

Raspadskaya exported 54% or 6.7 million tonnes of its coal products in 2022, increasing sales in the Asia-Pacific region by 7.2%. Raspadskaya accounted for 2.7% of global coking coal exports.

The company's overall coal concentrate sales totalled 12.4 million tonnes in 2022 and run-of-mine coal sales amounted to 1.8 million tonnes. The company shipped 5.7 million tonnes to the domestic market, including 3.8 million tonnes to the steel plants of Evraz, which owns 93.2% of Raspadskaya.