Despite the country’s significant share of the seaborne market, it has not always been a low-cost exporter; in 2009, the majority of Russian metallurgical coal mines were located in the third and fourth quartiles of the Business Costs curve, it said.

A newly released insight study describes how Russian costs have evolved through the commodity boom years, followed by the market downturn and also provides a medium-term outlook for the country’s competitiveness on the seaborne market using CRU’s Metallurgical Coal Cost Model.