Russia’s Energy Ministry does not expect strong coal price fluctuations either on the domestic or the international market until the end of 2017, Deputy Energy Minister Anatoly Yanovsky said during celebration of the Miners’ Day in the city of Mezhdurechensk on August 25.
“It is a thankless task to forecast prices. If you mention optimistic figures, which do not come true, it will create false expectations, if you mention pessimistic figures – they will cause panic. I think that coal prices will be at the same level as they are now until the end of the year,” Yanovsky said. “As regards the domestic market, they are quite stable and in fact correspond to the gross domestic product deflator level forecasted by the Economic Development Ministry.”
Yanovsky added that he meant coking and power-generating coal.
The official said that Russia’s domestic coal consumption amounted to about 90 million tons. It can shrink by 5 million tons of power coal in five years. (Prime/Ukrainian metal)