During January-September 2018, Russian Railways loaded 962.3 mn tons of cargo, up 2.7% year-on-year.
Coal loading grew 5.1% up to 276.3 mn tons. Oil and products, Russian Railways’ second most important commodity in terms of tonnage, increased slightly by 0.4% up to 175.9 mn tons.
Ferrous and manganese ore was up 5% to 86.5 mn tons, ferrous metals up 9.9% to 58.8 mn tons, chemical and mineral fertilizers up 4% to 44.2 mn tons, timber and logs up 4% to 34.7 mn tons, soda and chemicals up 2.3% up to 19.8 mn tons.
Grain loading amounted to 20 mn tons surging 36.9% year-on-year, however, the rate growth of rail traffic by rail is declining.
Ferrous metal scrap loading increased 1.3% up to 11.6 mn tons.
Other cargo categories loading volumes declined. Thus, construction cargo was down 6.1% to 95.7 mn tons, industrial and forming materials down 3.2% to 26.5 mn tons.
Non-ferrous ore and raw sulfur loading was down 0.5% to 15.2 mn tons, and cement down to 7.2% to 19.7 mn tons, and coke down 2.3% to 8.2 mn tons.
In September, Russian Railways loaded 104.5 mn tons of cargo, up 0.7% compared to September 2017 and down 4% compared to August 2018.