State owned rail monopoly Russian Railways saw a 3.5% YoY rise in coal handling to 26.5 million tonnes in January largely to milder weather conditions. Russian coal handling was hampered by an unusually harsh 2010-11 winter, which led to frozen wagon cargoes and port export disruptions.

Nevertheless, the firm saw a 3.5% rise in coal handling last year, compared with 2010, to 296m tonnes, with production rising 3.8% to 334m tonnes. Russia is the largest supplier of coal to Europe.

(Sourced from Montel)