Over Half of Kuzbass Coal Miners Now in the Red Amid Sanctions and Rising Costs

Key Points:

57% of coal miners in Kuzbass are now loss-making, up from 45% a year ago, due to:

Falling global coal prices

Rising production costs

Strong ruble vs USD

High rail tariffs (up to 50% of total cost)

Transport bottlenecks and sanctions

2025 industry losses may reach $3.1 billion, more than double the $1.4 billion in 2024.

29 companies (40 million tonnes of output) have already gone bankrupt.

Firms producing 160 million tonnes are in the “red zone” due to above-average losses.

US sanctions now cover 50%+ of export volumes, risking further export contraction.

Kuzbass Q1 2025 output fell 3.6% y-o-y to 51.0 million tonnes.