(EnergyAsia, June 6 2013, Thursday) — Mechel OAO, a leading Russian mining and metals company, said the trading subsidiary of its mining division has signed a new agreement to supply coking coal to China’s Shasteel Group.

Mechel Carbon (Singapore) will supply Shasteel Group with 40,000 to 80,000 tonnes of coking coal a month from ports in the Russian Far East, starting this month.

The sale prices will be determined on a monthly basis, said Mechel, which earlier had supplied more than 500,000 tonnes of coking coal to Shasteel’s main coke plant in Zhangjiagang in China’s Jiangsu Province.

Shasteel Group is the largest private steel mill in China, with an annual production capacity of up to 35 million tonnes of steel.

Mechel Mining Management Company’s CEO Boris Nikishichev said:

“Considering the current high market volatility, it is particularly important to us to have guaranteed sales of our products to the world’s major steelmakers. Long-term contracts with giants such as Shasteel enable us to provide our production facilities with a stable load and diversify our markets, thus consolidating our status as a leading global coal exporter.”