Russia’s coal industry, which has been hit by sanctions and lost access to Western markets, is facing new challenges as purchases from China, Turkey and India are reduced. Now it has suffered another blow, losing one of its key buyers, Taiwan. This was reported by Komersant ukrainskyi
reports with reference to Russian media.
One of the two largest coal importers in Taiwan, Taiwan Cement Corporation (TCC), has announced that it will completely stop cooperating with Russian coal suppliers. The company, which had previously purchased coal from Russia for its Hoping power plant, decided to refuse new contracts starting from September this year. The last shipment of coal will arrive in Taiwan in October, according to an official statement from the TCC.
Taiwan has not joined the sanctions against Russia and is one of the five largest importers of Russian coal. Between spring 2023 and spring 2024, Taiwan purchased more than 10 million tonnes of Russian coal, and Russian supplies accounted for almost a fifth of the island’s total imports of this resource.
According to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), since the beginning of the war, Taiwan has spent $3.5 billion on Russian coal, which accounted for about 5% of all coal exports from Russia. Moreover, in 2024, supplies increased by 30% compared to 2023, and in 2023 – by 1.5 times compared to 2022.
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The loss of the Taiwanese client adds new challenges to the Russian coal industry, which has already faced serious difficulties. Between January and July this year, coal exports from Russia fell by almost 12%. The main buyer, China, reduced imports by 8%, and there are no prospects for an increase in volumes. This was pointed out by Russian Energy Minister Sergey Tsivilov in September.
In the first half of 2024, the Russian coal industry, which is one of the largest raw materials industries and includes more than 30 single-industry towns and 650,000 workers (including related companies), became unprofitable. According to Rosstat, its balanced financial result was minus 7.1 billion rubles.
Half of Russia’s coal companies were unprofitable, and the industry’s total losses increased 3.4 times, reaching RUB 93.7 billion. The profits of those companies that remained profitable fell by 72% to RUB 86.6 billion.
Back in April, the State Council’s Energy Commission warned of an impending “severe crisis” in the coal industry. According to its estimates, the industry is facing a cash gap when payment flows do not cover costs, and by the end of 2024, the cash deficit could reach RUB 450 billion.