Official: Energy Ministry sees no coal price volatility in 2017

KEMEROVO, Aug 25 (PRIME) -- 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 told reporters during celebration of the Miners’ Day in the city of Mezhdurechensk on Friday.

“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 (GDP) deflator level forecasted by the Economic Development Ministry.”

Yanovsky added that he means coking and power-generating coal.

The official said that Russia’s domestic coal consumption amounts to about 90 million tonnes. It can shrink by 5 million tonnes of power coal in five years.

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