By Tass
MOSCOW, July 1. /TASS/. Russia鈥檚 Energy Ministry expects coal production and exports to remain at last year鈥檚 level in 2025, and to grow starting 2026, Deputy Minister Dmitry Islamov said in an interview with TASS.
In the first five months of this year coal output fell by 1 mln tons compared with the same period in 2024, he noted. “Last year鈥檚 production amounted to 438 mln tons, down by 5 mln tons compared with 2022. In the first five months of this year production continued to decrease by around 1 mln tons year-on-year. However, looking at regions, production in Kuzbass fell by 5 mln tons over those five months, while production in the Far Eastern regions, mainly Yakutia, increased,” he said.
In 2026, the ministry expects coal output to rise, the official added. “Next year we expect performance figures to rise,” he said.
Meanwhile, Russia鈥檚 coal exports have remained at last year鈥檚 level year-to-date as the ministry registered a slight increase by half a percent. In the first five months of 2025 coals exports using the infrastructure of Russian Railways decreased by 1.5 mln tons, Islamov said. Deliveries in the eastern direction to other countries went up by 0.9 mln tons.
“Supplies to the northwest have fallen sharply while [exports – TASS] to the south have grown compared with last year. That said, taking into account the growth of supplies from Yakutia, exports are in line with last year鈥檚 [volumes], we are recording a slight increase of 0.5%,” he said.
The energy ministry is focused on providing maximum support to the coal industry, maintaining production volumes, and achieving the strategic objectives set out in the energy strategy until 2050, Islamov noted. The timing of this shift also depends on the industry itself, which is currently struggling with the crisis, implementing a large-scale program of changes, optimizing costs, improving technologies, increasing labor productivity, limiting dividend payments, he explained.
In some cases the coal industry will consolidate, with small companies joining stronger ones, while in others inefficient capacities will decrease, deputy ministry added, noting that it is necessary to make sure that strong, efficient coal companies keep developing.