In 2009, Kazakhstan will reduce its coal output by about 12 million mt year on year to around 93 million mt, Kazakhstan's deputy minister of energy and mineral resources Duysenbay Turganov has stated.
Accordingly, the decrease in the country's coal production is mainly caused by the decline in its coal exports, which in the current year are expected to amount to 19 million mt, down from 27 million mt exported in 2008.
Mr. Turganov also predicted that in 2010 Kazakhstan's production and export of coal will increase, as the economy has begun to move forward. "Therefore, we expect that Russia will increase its consumption and will buy more coal from us," he stated.