Three Quarters Of Russian Coal Companies Have Become Unprofitable

23 businesses have already halted operations.

Almost three quarters of Russian coal enterprises are operating in minus. Such data was given by acting director of the coal industry department of the Russian Ministry of Energy Dmitri Lopatin at a meeting of the State Council on Energy. According to him, 74% of companies in the industry are now unprofitable, and 23 enterprises have already stopped work.

Lopatin specified that according to Rosstat data, the sector's cumulative losses have reached 263 billion rubles, and by the end of the year this figure is forecast to grow to 350 billion. "Coal production has been falling for the third year in a row - from 443.6 million tons in 2022 to 438.6 million tons in 2024, that is a drop of about 5 million tons," he said (quoted by TASS).

The Deputy Energy Minister Dmitri Islamov said earlier that the sector also ended the year with losses in 2024 - 112 billion rubles, with accounts payable of 1.2 trillion and the share of loss-making enterprises at 53%. In October, the Ministry of Energy predicted further growth of the debt burden - up to 1.5 trillion rubles at the end of 2025.

On the eve of the general crisis, it became known about a sharp decline in production indicators of Mechel Holding. According to the results of the third quarter of 2025, the company reduced coal production by 55% in annual terms - to 1.28 million tons. Over the nine months, the drop in production amounted to 38%, reaching the lowest level in the last 10 years. Mechel's net loss grew 2.4 times in the first half of the year, reaching 40.5 billion rubles, the highest since 2015.

To support the industry, the Russian government on May 30 approved a package of measures, including a deferral of MET and insurance contributions until December 1, targeted subsidies to compensate for logistics costs when exporting coal, as well as the possibility of restructuring credit debt.

The NKR estimates that the crisis worsened after Vladimir Putin launched the war in Ukraine in 2022, when Russia lost some of its traditional export markets, including the European Union, and global coal prices fell significantly. While in 2022 the cost of an export ton of thermal coal was $148-192 depending on the port, by the end of 2024 it has fallen to $72-106.

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