In the first quarter of the current year, total shipment volumes by Russian railway monopoly Russian Railways (RZD) - including ferrous metals, coal, oil, fertilizers and timber - decreased by 0.6 percent year on year to 292.1 million mt, according to the State Statistics Committee of Russia (Russtat).
In particular, Russian Railways' ferrous metal shipments increased by seven percent year on year to 18.7 million mt in the first three months of the current year, steel scrap shipments increased by 11.6 percent to 3 million mt, while coke shipments went down by 2.8 percent year on year to 2.8 million mt.