The factoring portfolio of the coal industry grew by 32%

The coal industry in crisis increases the volume of short financing: the factoring portfolio of market participants last year grew by 32%. Classic bank loans for coal mining companies are less affordable, and short money is needed to cover cash gaps in conditions of low prices and increase the terms of settlements.

The factoring portfolio of the coal industry in 2024 increased by 32%, to 638.911 billion rubles, follows from the data of the Association of Factoring Companies (AFC). In the portfolio of the entire market (2.96 trillion rubles), coal miners accounted for 21.5%. According to the results of the first quarter of this year, the total portfolio amounted to 2.464 trillion rubles, respectively, the fraction of the coal industry can be estimated at about 517 billion rubles.

Factoring – operational short -term financing of companies under the assignment of receivables. The managing director of the NRA rating service Sergei Grishunin believes that the growth of the factoring portfolio may say that the companies lack liquidity in conditions of low prices, long supplies and difficulties in receiving payments from “new” buyers, including increasing the terms of settlements. “The terms of contracting fell due to the volatility of the ruble, inflation and rate of the Central Bank. The management of coal companies experiences pressure not only of the situation, but also to debt banking and investors in debt instruments, ”says Dmitry Shevchenko, Executive Director of AFC. Survived coal and factoring companies, as well as the Ministry of Energy, did not answer Kommersant.

The weakening of the credit load was part of the anti -crisis program presented by the Ministry of Energy for the coal industry (see “Kommersant” of March 19). As Kommersant’s interlocutors said, compensation for two -thirds of the key rate on investment loans was considered, which would reduce interest payments from 15.6 billion to 5.2 billion rubles. for 2025. But this initiative did not enter the list of support measures agreed by the President of the Russian Federation (see Kommersant on May 13). The deputy head of the Ministry of Energy Dmitry Islamov informed TASS that in the first quarter the loss of the coal industry exceeds 70 billion rubles. According to the Ministry of Energy, which brought RBC, the debt of enterprises for the current year can grow by 20%, to 1.5 trillion rubles.

The interlocutor of Kommersant, familiar with the situation in the industry, says that coal companies in fact « are excommunicated from banking financing, no short or long money. » “Banks are not ready to finance unprofitable companies,” he states. Neft Research partner in consulting Alexander Kotov notes that the coal companies of the Middle Hand do not use factoring, since for them this is an expensive tool. Large market participants, he continues, can use factoring to close cash gaps. “Enterprises that are in a more difficult financial situation are forced to replenish working capital from external sources,” said another interlocutor of Kommersant.

In the future, the need for coal miners to finance to cover current operating costs will only increase, Mr. Kotov is sure. “In the first quarter, by April, most manufacturers ended with long contracts, which usually had been concluded for a year. And so far there is no understanding of how the companies will work for export, ”he says. According to the expert, some of the players will probably rectify annual contracts even on poor conditions in price so as not to reduce the rhythm of production, but this is possible for the largest coal companies with a margin of strength in the supply economy. But even there will be means to maintain operating activities and maintain obligations, adds Alexander Kotov. The rest, he says, will probably work in the spot market.

According to a rough assessment, only interest on the debt of the coal industry can amount to about 20% of all predictive revenue, says the chief economist of the Institute for Growth Economics named after P. A. Stolypin Boris Kopeikin. And the use of alternative financing methods such as factoring, according to him, will not radically change the situation: « Many enterprises with debts will obviously cannot cope. »

Polina Trifonova