Russian coal mining rises 5.6 percent in Q1

According to the data released by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade (MEDT) of Russian Federation, Russia's coal mining increased 5.6 percent year on year to 79.8 million tons in the first quarter of 2006. However, the mining of coking coal in the country, during the same period, decreased 16.2 percent to 15 million tons due to weak demand in the local market.