UPDATE 1-Russia's Mechel sheds 20 pct on Putin threat

(Adds quotes, details, traders, updates share price)

MOSCOW, July 24 (Reuters) - New York-traded shares in Russian coal miner Mechel (MTL.N) fell more than 20 percent on Thursday after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin accused the firm of selling its products domestically at twice the price of exports.

"I'm asking the federal anti-monopoly service to pay special attention to this problem. And maybe even the investigative committee of Prosecutor Generals Office," Putin told steel company owners at a meeting to discuss developments in the market.

Mechel, also Russia's sixth-largest steel maker, declined immediate comment. Its billionaire majority owner, Igor Zyuzin, did not attend the meeting in the city of Nizhny Novgorod.

"In the first quarter of this year, the company sold its raw materials abroad at half the price of its domestic prices," Putin told the meeting.

Traders were quick to draw comparisons with Putin's once sharp criticism of oil firm YUKOS, which was bankrupt under a huge back tax bill.

"This (Mechel) was a benchmark stock for the sector, but now people are remembering what happens here when you come into conflict with the government," said Pavel Koryshev, trader at East Kommerts investment group in Moscow.

"The company could face corporate ramifications along the lines that we've seen before," he said.

A Moscow-based fund manager, who asked that he not be identified, said investors in Mechel were being scared off by Putin's comments.

"People are getting out of Russia. Putin had some very angry comments directed straight at the company and it is quite rare for Putin to specifically single out one company," he said.

Mechel shares were down 18.8 percent at $29.7 at 1505 GMT. (Reporting by Robin Paxton and Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Rory Channing)