Russia's largest coking coal producer announced the price cut earlier this month after it was fined $32 million, or 5% of its annual turnover, for violations of anti-trust legislation.
"I do not mean to say that this was enough, but it is a positive tendency, positive dynamics," Sechin told reporters.
The antimonopoly regulator said on August 19 that Mechel had abused its dominant market position by charging artificially high prices for its products, refusing to sign contracts for deliveries, and supporting a policy of price fixing.
The probe was launched on orders from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who accused the company in late July of selling coking coal domestically at double the export price. Putin's comments sent Mechel shares plummeting.
Sechin said consumers had responded positively to the coal price cut. Steel producers, he said, have pledged to cut automobile body sheet prices by at least 5%. He said it was not merely an isolated episode, but a sign "the market is being rectified."
