Kazakhstan Coal Production Declines: Impact on Exports and Industry

08/09/2023

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From January to July this year, the Republic of Kazakhstan extracted a total of 65 million tons of hard coal, encompassing both brown coal and coal concentrate, as reported by energyprom.kz. This figure reflects a decrease of 2.1% compared to the previous year. The primary coal mining regions in the country, Pavlodar and Karaganda, contributed significantly, accounting for 92% of the nation’s overall coal, lignite, and coal concentrate production. In Pavlodar, coal production reached 39.2 million tons, marking a modest increase of 0.5% from the previous year, while the Karaganda region produced 20.6 million tons, representing a decrease of 3.3%. The Abay region secured a place in the top three leading regions with a production of 4.2 million tons, albeit experiencing a 10.3% decline year-over-year.

For the entire year of 2022, Kazakhstan produced 117.8 million tons of coal, indicating a 1.4% increase from the previous year. Directly, 60.4 million tons of hard coal were extracted, a decrease of 1.7% compared to the preceding year. This production also included 4.2 million tons of coking coal, marking a 6% decrease, and 8.9 million tons of energy coal, a 4% decrease. Brown coal (lignite) production decreased by 0.9%, reaching 2.6 million tons, while coal concentrate production experienced a substantial 12.4% decline, totaling 2 million tons.

During the January-June period of this year, Kazakhstan exported 13 million tons of coal, valued at $370.8 million. In terms of quantity, this represented a 20.4% reduction in exports, and in terms of value, an 18.9% decrease. Within these exports, 8.3 million tons of coal were directed to CIS countries, marking a 24.2% decrease compared to the previous year. Notably, Russia emerged as the primary importer of coal from Kazakhstan, accounting for 7.4 million tons and a 27.2% decrease year-over-year. The top three importing countries also featured Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. The rest of the world received 4.7 million tons of Kazakh coal, experiencing a 12.7% decrease from the previous year. In monetary terms, these exports declined by 12.3%, amounting to $264 million. Among these exports, prominent importers of Kazakh coal included Poland, Latvia, and Turkey.

Source and Credit: kt.kz

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