For more than 20 years, JSC Kuzbass Fuel Company (JSC KTK) has been fulfilling social obligations to supply preferential coal to municipalities of Kuzbass. At the same time, realizing its social responsibility in the region, over the past 4 years, KTK JSC has been supplying preferential coal at prices below the cost of its production. Already in 2023, the company did not have any sources of compensation for losses that it received when selling coal to the population at prices set by the Regional Energy Commission of Kuzbass (REK Kuzbass). Previously, such losses were covered by export trade, which amounted to about 70% of the total volume of solid fuel sales. Now, in the context of new world realities, the company was forced to leave most export markets. It should be noted that, based on the results of 2024, the volume of coal production by JSC KTK (5.8 million tons) amounted to 3% of the total volume of coal mined in Kuzbass (198.4 million tons - according to the Ministry of Coal Industry of Kuzbass). At the same time, in 2024, JSC KTK ensured the supply of preferential coal to the population at prices set by the REC of Kuzbass in full. In total, the company employs over 2,000 people, almost 1,800 of whom work at the Vinogradovsky open-pit mine, where power-generating coal is mined. The price of each ton of coal includes funds to pay for their labor, provide social guarantees for their families, as well as funds to ensure the mining process meets all environmental and industrial safety standards. Today, in the conditions of a crisis situation in the koal industry and active sanctions pressure, the housing cooperative KTK is working at the limit of its capabilities. Despite all the above circumstances, this year the company has undertaken obligations to supply the population with preferential raw coal at the price of the Kuzbass Regional Energy Company, which is up to 35% lower than the cost of production at our open pit. Over the past couple of years, global inflation has led to an increase in prices for fuel, equipment, mining machinery and spare parts for them from fifty to several hundred percent. The indexation of prices for preferential coal, carried out by local regulatory authorities, in no way keeps up with this growth. Nevertheless, JSC KTK, realizing its leading role and responsibility in providing coal to the population of Kuzbass, confirmed its readiness to ship ordinary coal from the Vinogradovsky open-pit mine to the warehouses of OOO Kuzbasstoplivosbyt at the prices of the REC of Kuzbass in the required quantity. Since the production of graded coal is even more expensive, generates multiple amounts of screened coal fractions that are not in demand by the market, this year the sale of graded coal at the prices of the REC of Kuzbass is not possible and may lead to the suspension of the company's activities, and also threatens the implementation of the program for the supply of preferential run-of-mine coal.
