Mechel, one of the leading Russian mining and steel groups, has announced that for the year 2009 it has concluded coking and steam coal supply contracts with Chinese, Japanese and South Korean companies. The prices agreed and the contracted companies have not been disclosed.
Currently, the total volume of supplies for the 2009 fiscal year under Mechel’s contracts with Chinese, Japanese and South Korean companies amount to 2.3 million mt of steam coal of various grades produced at Mechel’s coal mining subsidiaries Yakutugol and Southern Kuzbass, and approximately two million mt of coking coal concentrate produced at Yakutugol. The deliveries of coking coal concentrate to local Chinese customers have already begun.
In addition, starting from 2007, Mechel has also been delivering iron ore concentrate produced at its Korshunov Mining Plant to China.
“China is a very promising market for us. Its steel industry continues to develop fast resulting in stable high demand for our commodities: iron ore concentrate, coking coal concentrate, and ferroalloys. It is important that supplies to China are performed by both water transport and along railways, thus the flexibility of supply chains makes additional competitive advantage for us. I would like to emphasize that entering into new large contracts with Chinese companies allows us to increase the load of our coal mining facilities that is of particular importance in the current challenging business environment,” Mechel’s senior vice president Vladimir Polin commented.