Russia lost third place in the world in thermal coal exports
Фото: Pixabay
Russia dropped out of the top three global exporters of thermal coal, dropping from third to fourth place. In the first nine months of 2026, supplies fell by 18.6% to 42.5 million tons.
This is reported by The Insider, citing data from the analytical company BigMint.
In January-September, Russia showed the largest reduction in non-coking coal exports among the world’s leading suppliers. South Africa took third place, increasing shipments by 8% to 52.1 million tons.
According to the publication’s estimates, Russian exports decreased by almost 9.7 million tons compared to the same period in 2025. Russia’s share in the global non-coking coal market decreased from 8.4% to 7.1%.
Indonesia remained the largest exporter with 240.3 million tons, followed by Australia with 151.2 million tons.
Why are Russian exports declining?
Russia lost the most in the Turkish and Chinese markets. Supplies to Turkey fell by 32% to 15.7 million tons , and to China by 26% to 15.1 million tons .
At the same time, exports to India increased by 63% to 9.6 million tons. Russian companies managed to increase sales thanks to significant discounts.
Analysts attribute the decline in exports to falling coal demand in Turkey, large fuel reserves in China and increased competition from Mongolia. Additional difficulties are created by rising costs of rail transportation, sea transportation and ship insurance.
However, BigMint’s statistics do not cover all Russian coal exports. According to Kpler, seaborne deliveries of coal of all grades increased by 7.25% to 135.86 million tons over the same period. The figures differ due to different calculation methods and product categories.
Russia’s coal industry suffers losses
The reduction in exports comes against the backdrop of financial problems in the Russian coal industry.
According to official data from Rosstat, in January–July 2026, the net loss of coal mining enterprises amounted to 178.2 billion rubles . 64.5% of companies in the industry were unprofitable.
In Kuzbass, Russia’s largest coal-mining region, 20 out of 93 mines and coal pits were out of operation as of August. The number of workers in the industry fell from 103,000 to 97,300 over the year.
The Russian Ministry of Energy predicts that by the end of 2026, the coal industry’s losses will amount to 300–310 billion rubles .
Recall, it was previously reported that the crisis in the Russian coal industry was deepening . Enterprises suffered significant losses due to the loss of export markets, low coal prices, and high transportation costs.
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