Russian coal exports to South Korea drop 28% in October 2025

In October 2025, Russian coal exports to South Korea kept dropping for the second month in a row, falling to 2.1 mio t (-0.8 mio t or -28% vs. September 2025). Nevertheless, the volume of supplies remained above 1.6 mio t, recorded in October 2024.

Russian coal exports to South Korea in October 2025 declined to 2.1 mio t (-0.8 mio t or -28% vs. September 2025). Despite the monthly drop, shipments remained significantly higher than the 1.3 mio t recorded in September 2024.

In Jan-Oct 2025, Russian coal supplies to South Korea totaled 18.4 mio t (+2.6 mio t or +16.5%y-o-y).

The October contraction came amid intensified market competition. Colombian suppliers boosted shipments by almost 3.5 times (m-o-m) in October, offering South Korean consumers aggressive discounts and partial freight coverage, while Australia ramped up exports to South Korea to 4.0 mio t in October (+8.1% m-o-m).

Furthermore, Russian coal exports to South Korea are curbed by restrictive recommendations from the authorities to state-owned energy companies.

South Korea’s total coal imports for 10 months of 2025 fell to 91.4 mio t (–4.7 mio t or -4.9% y-o-y).

South Korean coal imports (Jan-Oct 2025):

• Australia: 28.4 mio t (+0.5 mio t or +1.8%);
• Indonesia: 24.2 mio t (+1.3 mio t or +5.7%);
• Russia: 18.4 mio t (+2.6 mio t or +16.5%);
• Canada: 6.8 mio t (-1.9 mio t or -21.8%);
• Colombia: 5.1 mio t (-3.1 mio t or -37.8%);
• USA: 3.4 mio t (-0.5 mio t or -12.8%);
• South Africa: 2.3 mio t (-2.2 mio t or -48.9%).

Given the crisis in the Russian coal industry, South Korea remains strategically important due to comparatively higher prices than other key markets like China and India. Russian exporters are faced with the need to balance, maintaining supply volumes with growing pressure on the sales margins in the South Korean market.

The unprofitability of Russian coal exports keeps growing because of expensive logistics and the strong rouble. Still, producers are trying to keep their market share, owing to the quality of their material and expectations of better conditions in the medium term, including stabilization of world prices after they hit rock bottom, as well as the forecasted correction of the rouble exchange rate.