Raspadskaya Coal Company (Raspadskaya), the second largest coking coal producer in Russia and a subsidiary of domestic steelmaker Evraz Group, has announced its preliminary operational results for the second quarter and first half of 2009.
Accordingly, Raspadskaya's raw coal output in Q2 2009 increased by 21 percent quarter on quarter to 2.281 million mt, while its total H1 raw coal production amounted to 4.167 million mt - down four percent year on year. The company's total sales volumes of concentrate in H1 this year amounted to 2.986 million mt, while in Q2 its sales increased by 30 percent quarter on quarter to 1.685 million mt, reaching 80 percent of the pre-crisis volume.
Within the framework of its long-term relationships, Raspadskaya continues to work with all its Russian consumers under contracts according to which new prices and sales volumes are set for each quarter, and so it can adjust prices when the situation in the industry improves. In H1 this year, Raspadskaya's weighted-average price for concentrate decreased by 75 percent year on year, amounting to $46.4/mt FCA Mezhdurechensk, Kemerovo region.
Meanwhile, the company has been moving towards the export markets: it has started to carry out contracts with large steel producers including Japan's JFE Holding and South Korea's POSCO, and has begun to sign contracts for the Chinese market via international trading companies. Currently, Raspadskaya's exports amount to 40 percent of its total sales volume.
"We regard our existing export relationships as a basis for the signing of more sizable contracts for 2010 and subsequent years," Raspadskaya CEO Gennady Kozovoy stated.
For H2 2009, Raspadskaya is aiming to increase its domestic sales volumes as a result of stable relationships with customers and already received orders for extra shipments of coal concentrate, to organize all its logistical chains for shipments to Asia, and to ensure that the total sales volume in 2009 approaches that of 2008, i.e. about 7.03 million.