OREANDA-NEWS Against the background of falling world prices, Russian coal exports showed an impressive drop in March, with loading in some areas falling by tens of percent year-on-year. Kommersant writes about this with reference to the calculations of the Institute of Energy and Finance.

The bulk carrier tracking system (vessels for the transportation of bulk cargoes, including coal) shows that exports of energy and coking coal from the Baltic port of Ust-Luga fell by 30 percent, while the ports of Vostochny and Nakhodka (part of a single port and transport hub, the largest Russian in the Pacific Ocean) lost 21 percent.

Maria Nikitina, an expert on transport logistics at the Institute of Growth Economics, noted that the new Lavna port in the Murmansk Region has nothing to fill, and in the south, OTEKO also faced a drawdown in supplies. Both of these areas turned out to be the least profitable for coal companies, so they stopped selling through them.

The Institute of Energy and Finance recalled that in March, the quotes of thermal coal supplied from the Baltic Sea fell again, so that only companies with transshipment capacities can receive some profit. Russian Railways' struggle with empty wagons on the network also creates additional difficulties for them and leads to new costs.