Raspadskaya Coal Company (Raspadskaya), the second largest coking coal producer in Russia and a subsidiary of domestic steelmaker Evraz Group, plans in 2010 to invest Ruble 3.5 billion (about $115.7 million) in development - down 30 percent compared to Ruble 5 billion (about $165.2 million) invested in 2009.
The main part of the sum in question will be directed towards the completion of the construction of the company's Raspadskaya-Koksovaya mine, which has a designed capacity of three million mt per year of hard coking coal of the highly valuable K and KO grades.
In 2010, Raspadskaya plans to increase its coal output to 11 million mt, compared to 10.56 million mt produced in 2009.
Meanwhile, it is reported that Raspadskaya has increased its domestic coking coal prices for February-March 2010 contracts by 22 percent to Ruble 3,300/mt (about $110/mt) on FCA basis. Earlier this month, the media had reported an increase to Ruble 3,600/mt ($120/mt), which provoked a negative reaction from the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service and a warning against coordinated actions to increase prices.