In 2021, Russia's thermal coal exports rebounded again from the previous year's low. Among them, Russia's supply of thermal coal to China increased significantly compared with the previous year, accounting for nearly 20% of Russia's total exports, a record high.
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According to the Russian Federal Customs Service, Russia's total exports of thermal coal (bituminous coal and other coal) totaled 154 million tons in 2021, an increase of 3.82% from 148 million tons in 2020, the second highest since the data were recorded in 2018.
In 2020, affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, Russia's thermal coal exports fell to the lowest in the past four years, down 5.06% year-on-year, while exports in 2021 rebounded again from last year's low, breaking through the 150 million tons mark and basically returning to pre-epidemic levels. In 2021, driven by a sharp increase in global energy demand, strong demand for thermal coal in China and European countries, Russia's thermal coal exports to these regions increased significantly.
Driven by the sharp rise in international thermal coal prices last year, in 2021, Russia's coal exports reached 11.668 billion US dollars, an increase of 38.86% year-on-year, also hitting a new high in the past four years, which is estimated that the average price of thermal coal exports for the whole year was 75.71 US dollars / ton, an increase of 33.75% year-on-year.
In December 2021, Russia's thermal coal exports were 14.6896 million tons, down 9.15% year-on-year and 23.42% month-on-month, the second highest in the same period of history. In 2021, Russia's coal exports achieved year-on-year growth for seven months.
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In terms of coal types, in 2021, Russia exported the most bituminous coal, at 153 million tons, an increase of 3.06% year-on-year, accounting for 68.4% of Russia's total coal exports in the whole year, down from 69.9% in the previous year; exported 1.2384 million tons of other coal, much higher than the 109,100 tons exported in 2020.
Last year, Russia's anthracite coal exports were 24.7309 million tons, an increase of 14.66% year-on-year, accounting for 11.1% of the total exports; lignite exports were 12.7062 million tons, down 3.07% year-on-year, accounting for 5.7%.
In December 2021, Russia's bituminous coal exports were 14.644 million tons, down 9.39% year-on-year and 23.51% month-on-month; anthracite coal exports were 2.3928 million tons, down 0.68% year-on-year and up 59.95% month-on-month; Lignite exports were 974,500 tons, down 14.47% year-on-year, up 114.5% month-on-month; other coal exports were 45,600 tons, down 0.63% month-on-month, much higher than 7,400 tons in the same period last year.
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In terms of export destinations, in 2021, China, Japan, South Korea, Turkey and the Netherlands will be the top five export destinations for Russian thermal coal, accounting for more than half of the annual export volume, reaching 53.8%, higher than the top five export destinations in 2020 accounting for 49.6%.
In 2021, Russia exported the most thermal coal to China, at 27.856 million tons, a sharp increase of 57.59% year-on-year, accounting for 18.1% of Russia's total thermal coal exports, much higher than the 11.9% in 2020. Since China informally restricted Australian coal imports in January 2020, China's import demand for Russian thermal coal has increased. Judging from the monthly export data, Russia's monthly thermal coal exports to China in 2021 will increase year-on-year.
In 2021, the Russian government has reached coal resource development contracts with China on many occasions and reached cooperation in improving Russia's railway transportation capacity, which has led to a significant increase in Russia's coal exports to China and other asian countries. As countries in the Asia-Pacific region plan to continue to increase demand for coal as a source of energy supply, Russia will continue to increase coal exports to the Asian market.
Last year, Russia exported 16.7456 million tons of thermal coal to Japan, an increase of 1.95% year-on-year, accounting for 11% of Russia's total thermal coal exports; in December last year, Russia exported 1.7644 million tons of thermal coal to Japan, an increase of 31.06% year-on-year and 10.52% month-on-month.
In 2021, Russia exported 13.2139 million tons of thermal coal to South Korea, down 14.59% year-on-year, accounting for 9.5% of Russia's total thermal coal exports; in December last year, Russia exported 1.1119 million tons of thermal coal to South Korea, a slight increase of 0.54% year-on-year and 22.44% month-on-month.
Last year, Russia's exports of thermal coal to The European region also increased compared with 2020, with total exports of 43.0462 million tons, an increase of 4.91% year-on-year; exports in December were 5.0535 million tons, down 5.56% year-on-year and 15.92% month-on-month. Affected by the sharp rise in natural gas in Europe last year, the general rise in electricity prices in Europe has led to more shifts in the local power industry to coal-fired power generation, superimposed on the recent tensions between Russia and Ukraine, and the European region has begun to increase coal reserves, driving local coal prices to continue to rise, and the demand for Russian thermal coal has increased.
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In terms of export regions, in 2021, the Siberian region is the largest source of thermal coal exports in Russia, with a total export volume of 123 million tons, a slight decrease of 0.73% year-on-year, accounting for 79.6% of Russia's total thermal coal exports, lower than 83.2% in 2020; the export volume of thermal coal in the Russian Far East was 18.6878 million tons, down 1.39% year-on-year, accounting for 12.6%; the export volume of the central region was 6.0029 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 73.31%.
In addition to its main export destinations, Russia has stepped up its coal exports to other regions. At the end of January, a representative of the Russian energy sector pointed out that India plans to increase the size of coal imports from Russia to 40 million tons in the next 10 years, compared with only about 6 million tons of coal supplies from Russia to India.
In addition, Russia is also actively fighting for Chinese coal orders. Russia said that with the pace of economic development in Asian countries such as China and India, the demand for electricity is also expected to soar, and it will vigorously purchase overseas coal, which Russia can take the opportunity to expand coal exports to these regions.
In the short term, however, Russia's coal exports are still limited by rail transport capacity. According to some large Russian coal companies, due to the limited railway capacity in the northwestern region of Russia, some analysts said that Russia's coal supply to the European region is expected to fall by 30-40% in January this year.