Mongolia News Agency: Coal price drop leads to a 50% reduction in the company "Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi" revenue
Mongolia News Agency, Ulaanbaatar, February 27th. The management of the state-owned enterprise "Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi" recently introduced the company's 2025 business performance report and the development plan and expected implementation for 2026 to the media.
Coal prices fall to the lowest level in six years
As one of Mongolia's strategic large-scale mining areas - the Tavan Tolgoi coal mine development company, "Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi" holds an important proportion in the country's export income. In 2025, the company mined 30.3 million tons of coal, sold 27.6 million tons, exported 28.8 million tons, and achieved a revenue of 1.7 trillion tugrik. Compared with 2024, coal production and sales decreased by about 0.2% to 2%, but the company's revenue fell sharply by more than 50%. The main reason is that the coal price in the Chinese market dropped sharply, decreasing by nearly double. For example, the price of hard coking coal at the Ganqimaodu border port in China has dropped to 700 yuan per ton (about 100 dollars). As a result, the coal price in Mongolia fell to the lowest level in nearly six years, especially in May and June at the beginning of the year. However, since July, the company's sales and production have gradually recovered under the relevant policy measures of the Mongolian government. Among them, June was the lowest point of the year, with sales of about 900,000 tons of coal; while in December, sales increased to the highest of the year, 3.9 million tons.
Drive all types of coal into the economic cycle
Although the global coal market depression has caused a significant impact on the company's income, the company is enhancing long-term stability by maintaining stable production and sales scale and developing high-value-added products. Until 2022, the company mainly mined and sold high-quality hard coking coal (third and fourth coal layers). With the implementation of the "no selective mining of ore beds" clause in the "Mineral Resources Law," the company began to promote all types of coal into the economic cycle. Data shows that the company's coking coal production continues to grow, and it now supplies eight types of coal products to the Chinese market. Since 2023, weak coking coal has started to be traded publicly through exchanges and has gradually become the main trading product. In 2025, the company completed 151 exchange bidding sessions, totaling 12.5696 million tons of coal transactions, with a transaction amount of 804.3 million US dollars. By the first two months of 2026, 19 transactions have been completed, with 1.8 million tons of coal transactions and a transaction amount of 151 million US dollars. These include 14 sessions of 1/3 coking coal, 4 sessions of washed coal, 3 sessions of coking coal, 2 sessions of power coal, and 2 sessions of gas coal. At the same time, the company is promoting multiple value-added projects, including: coal washing plant, Tavan Tolgoi coal loading and logistics center, Zaga water pipeline project, coal transportation belt corridor project, etc. The operation of these projects will improve resource utilization efficiency and lay the foundation for the long-term stable and efficient operation of the mine area.
It is reported that the company expects to achieve coal sales of 32.9 million tons and revenue of 79 trillion tugriks in 2026; and a net profit target of 947 billion tugriks. At the same time, the company plans to reach an annual coal production of 35 million tons, coking coal of 15.5 million tons (accounting for 44%); 1/3 coking coal of 14 million tons (accounting for 40%); about 4% of 1/2 coking coal; and power coal of 4.3 million tons (accounting for 12%). The company will also respond to the challenges brought by international coal price fluctuations by optimizing product structure and promoting deep processing projects, continuously enhancing the company's long-term competitiveness and profitability.
Original: toutiao.com/article/1858278586955788/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.