Coal traveled around the forest – Newspaper Kommersant No. 57 (7502) dated 04/04/2023
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Loading on the network of Russian Railways has been growing for the second month in a row: in March it reached 109 million tons, which is 2.3% higher than in the difficult March 2022, but only 0.3% lower than the normal March 2021. Growth is noticeable in most positions, in particular in coal and oil products, while coal transportation has reached the level of March 2021. Grain is the leader in share growth by March 2022 – its transportation increased by 46%. At the same time, the loading of timber cargo continues to decline, lagging behind by 20-30% compared to the same month of previous years, which, according to analysts, is explained by the loss of exports to Europe and the reduction in roundwood transportation in the domestic market.
Loading on railways in March increased by 2.3%, to 109.1 million tons, reported JSC Russian Railways. Loading growth is observed for the second month in a row, in February it amounted to 0.2% (see “Kommersant” dated March 1).
As Russian Railways explains, against the backdrop of a reduction in trade with Western European countries, logistics was restructured, new supply chains appeared, including using the freed-up capacities.
In March, the base for comparison is March 2022, the first month of the fall of the Russian economy due to hostilities in Ukraine. Therefore, it is not surprising that year-on-year growth is noticeable in most mass positions. Thus, loading of coal in March increased by 4.2%, to 32.3 million tons, oil and oil products – by 2.4%, to 18.6 million tons, construction cargo – by 15.6%, to 11.6 million tons, and other cargoes, including container ones, by 4%, to 10.3 million tons. At the same time, compared to March 2021, the results are quite good: the total loading is lower than March 2021 by 0.3%, the results for coal, coke and ferrous scrap are fully consistent with the March 2021 indicators, and for grain, construction and other noticeable growth is visible – by 21.7%, 18.4% and 9.6%, respectively. Grain is the leader in share growth and, relative to March 2022, by 45.7%, to 2.8 million tons. According to the forecast in the financial plan of Russian Railways, grain loading should also increase by the end of the year as a whole by 10.9%, to 26.8 million tons, and for export – by 18.8%.
The most serious share losses in loading are observed for industrial raw materials (29% less than in March 2022, and 24.1% less than in March 2021), timber (minus 18.7% and minus 31.6% respectively) and ferrous scrap (minus 15.4% compared to March 2022). The WhatWood agency explained that the decrease in the transportation of timber cargo in March 2023 by 2022 and 2021 is understandable. “In those periods, exports to Europe were still actively present, in March 2023 they were almost completely absent,” WhatWood notes. “In addition, the supply of roundwood on the domestic market decreased due to a decrease in the consumption of timber by timber processing plants and a drop in exports of unprocessed wood” .
The transportation of mineral fertilizers this March is slightly (by 1.9%) behind the level of last March, however, it shows a much more serious gap with the level of March 2021 (minus 8.8%). The situation is similar with non-ferrous metal ores and sulfur raw materials, the transportation of which remained at the level of March 2022, but fell by 11.8% by 2021.
At the same time, JSC Russian Railways told Kommersant that the loading forecast for 2023 has not yet changed. According to the forecast, loading at the end of the year should amount to 1.204 billion tons, which is 2.5% less than in 2022.
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