Raspadskaya Coal Company (Raspadskaya), one of the largest coking coal producers in Russia, has announced that in the fourth quarter last year its raw coal production volume increased by 32 percent compared to the third quarter of the year to 3.19 million mt, while in the full year of 2016 its raw coal production volume rose two percent year on year to 10.51 million mt.
In the fourth quarter, concentrate sales increased by 13 percent quarter on quarter to 1.63 million mt, driven by both domestic and export sales, while hard coking coal sales declined by 87 percent to 13,000 mt compared to the third quarter, as the company focused more on coal concentrate sales given the improving market conditions. In 2016, the company’s concentrate sales decreased by four percent year on year to 6.19 million mt, while its hard coking coal sales declined to 243,000 mt from 993,000 mt recorded in 2015.
According to Raspadskaya's statement, in the fourth quarter its export sales volumes of coking coal concentrate increased by six percent to 890,000 mt, while domestic sales of coking coal concentrate rose by 24 percent to 748,000 mt, both on quarter-on-quarter basis. Meanwhile, in 2016 the company’s export sales volumes of coking coal concentrate remained stable at 3.62 million mt, and domestic sales of coking coal concentrate decreased by nine percent to 2.56 million mt, both compared to the previous year.