MOSCOW, August 1. /TASS/. Freight volumes transported on the Russian Railways network amounted to 92.1 mln tonnes in July 2025, marking a 5.4% decrease compared to July of the previous year, the holding’s official Telegram channel reported.

"Freight traffic on the Russian Railways network in July totaled 92.1 mln tonnes, which is 5.4% less than in the same period last year," the statement said.

In total, from January through July, Russian Railways shipped 646.6 mln tonnes of cargo, down 7.3% year-on-year.

According to the company, freight volumes continue to be negatively affected by unfavorable market conditions, particularly in the coal and construction sectors, as well as in metallurgy. Over the first seven months of the year, shipments of construction materials declined by 17%, scrap metal by 34.6%, ferrous metals by 16.9%, and coal by 3.6%.

Additionally, due to maintenance work at oil refineries, oil shipments dropped by 4.7%. The 35.6% contraction in grain shipments is attributed by Russian Railways to last year’s poor harvest and export quotas imposed on grain.

"At the same time, there has been an increase in eastbound export shipment - up 4.1% to 93.8 mln tonnes in the January-July period. Non-coal cargoes heading east are growing at an outpacing rate, rising 4.9% to 25.9 mln tonnes. This includes fertilizers (+90.6%), ferrous metals (+3.9%), iron ore (+12.3%), as well as other high-value-added cargoes shipped in containers (+8.5%)," the company noted.

Russian Railways also emphasized that a significant portion of the decline in cargo volumes remains tied to the failure of shippers to present goods for transport under already approved shipment requests. Over the first seven months of the year, shippers canceled 7 mln tonnes of coal shipments destined for northwest ports, and 3.1 mln tonnes bound for southern ports. For the same reason, the coal evacuation agreement for shipments from Kuzbass to the East was underfulfilled by 0.6 mln tonnes.