Russia’s largest coal port hikes exports 7%

27th Aug 2018

Russia’s largest coal terminal at Vostochny, on the Sea of Japan, exported a record 14.6m tonnes in January-July, around 7% higher from the first half of 2017, port authority data showed on Wednesday.

The increase reflected growing Asia-Pacific demand for Russian material, in particular from South Korea, which accounted for 35% – or 5.1m tonnes – of the total.

Coal was also shipped to Japan, Taiwan, China, India and Pakistan, among others.

Improved port infrastructure also helped to facilitate the rise, with more than 29,000 rail wagons unloaded in July, up by 11% on the year.

Meanwhile, shipments from Russia’s largest European export terminal at Ust-Luga, near St Petersburg, totalled 12.3m tonnes, of which 1.4m tonnes was shipped in July.

The port authority did not provide comparative data for last year.

The two export hubs accounted for nearly 25% of Russia’s total coal export volumes in the first seven months of the year, which rose by 2.7% to 110.2m tonnes.

Source: ARGUS