Demand for exports is twice as high as the capacity of transport infrastructure
The Russian Ministry of Energy expects that coal exports from Russia will reach the 220-million-tonne milestone at the end of 2023, with production of about 440 million tonnes, an official of the ministry said.
The forecast figures were announced during the Energy and Transport Infrastructure-Synergy and Dependence round table held as part of Transport Week 2023 in Moscow.
“Today we need to gain a foothold in the Asia-Pacific regional markets and look into new shipping routes. But in the short term, we see limited infrastructure when market demand significantly exceeds our export capabilities. Even using the ports of the Southern Basin and North-West, with some constraints seen there in the last two months, the demand for Russian coal is at least twice as high as our export capabilities,” a PortNews correspondent quoted deputy minister of energy Sergei Mochalnikov as saying.
Export of coal through Russia’s Southern Basin ports increased by 19.6% at the end of 2022 compared to the previous year, the PortNews analytical department data showed. On the contrary the volume fell in Jan-Sept 2023 by 15.7% year-on-year. The commodity exports via the Baltic ports at the end of 2022 decreased by 9.5%, and surged by 25.5% in Jan-Sept 2023.