Raspadskaya Coal Company (Raspadskaya), the second largest coking coal producer in Russia and a subsidiary of domestic steelmaker Evraz Group, has announced its operational results for the first quarter of 2009.
According to the company release, the global financial crisis and the drop in the output of the Russian steel industry has affected Raspadskaya's prices and sales volumes of coal concentrate as compared to the trouble-free 2008. Thus, in Q1 2009, the company's weighted-average price for concentrate amounted to Ruble 1,586/ mt (approx. $47.6/mt) FCA Mezhdurechensk, Kemerovo region, its sales volumes amounted to 1.3 million mt, while its total raw coal output amounted to 1.888 million mt - down 35 percent year on year.
During the first quarter of 2009, Raspadskaya continued to operate under long-term contracts with big Russian customers such as MMK, Evraz, NLMK and Altai-Koks; it developed its relations with customers with average purchase levels such as Ural Steel, Mechel, Kemerovo-Koks, and availed of opportunities for short-term deliveries. In addition, starting from February 2009, Raspadskaya resumed its sales for export to Ukraine and Hungary.
Commenting on the company's operational results, Raspadskaya general director Gennady Kozovoy stated, "During a few months Raspadskaya was operating at minimal volumes of output and deliveries, which has a negative impact on our financial and operational results. From February 2009 we increased our deliveries to 65 percent compared to the pre-crisis period. In March 2009, our sales amounted to over 70 percent of the pre-crisis levels, which enabled us to stabilize the company's operations. The company plans to increase its exports in the second quarter of 2009 due to the deliveries to Southeast Asia."