KIEV: According to the state fiscal service of Ukraine, Ukraine in January to November 2017 increased coal imports in monetary terms by 1.87 times year over year to USD 2.431 billion. Russia remained the major supplier of coal over the period under review, accounting for 56.4% of total supplies worth USD 1.37 billion. It is followed by the United States (24.8%, USD 603.8 million) and Canada (6.2%, USD 149.9 million). Coal imports from other countries were estimated at USD 30.7 million in total. The country’s coal exports to Russia over the 11 months amounted to USD 54.8 million, Slovakia (USD 36.6 million), Turkey (USD 2.6 million), and other countries (USD 3.9 million).
As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukraine started facing an acute shortage of coal since the summer of 2014 as a result of hostilities in the east of the country. It completely lost control over some areas in Donbas with coal mines. After that, the country began to import coal.
In 2016, Ukraine reduced spending on coal imports by 10% from 2015, to USD 1.467 billion. This year, the two largest power generation companies that consume thermal coal have contracted anthracite from South Africa (DTEK) and the United States (Centrenergo). At the same time, DTEK imports gas coal from the US.
