Starting from November 19, Russian Railways (RZD) has imposed a railway ban for coal deliveries to Far Eastern seaports after abnormal ice storm hit the region. The convention was applied to all cargos, excluding food and fuel shipments. RZD ban also affected rail traffic through border crossings with China.
Coal shipments resumed on November 25-26, however, due to ongoing bad weather there are congestions on the rail network, which capacity will remain decreased in the near-term. According to experts, lost tonnages for Far Eastern coal terminals may amount to more than 1.0 mio t in November. While RZD convention was in force for less than a week, the impact may last a while longer as sources said there could be a backlog of coal stockpiles in Far Eastern ports.
Russian coal exporters expect a decline in coal supplies to the ports of the Far East in November-December, as suppliers are unlikely to catch up lost tonnages next month amid lower quotas for coal railings from Kuzbass to the Far East in December (-19% m-o-m).
In January-October 2020, rail shipments of coal to Far Eastern ports and Eastern border crossings totaled 85.3 mio t (+2.5 mio t or +3.0% y-o-y) (see CAA Russian Coal Weekly dated November 13, 2020).
Source: CAA Analytics
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