KIEV: Ukraine’s coal extraction in June decreased by 44.3% year-on-year to 3.51 million metric tons, down from 6.3 million mt in June 2014, but up from 3.24 million mt produced in May, an energy and coal industry ministry official said Friday.
The output of thermal coal, which is used in power generation, decreased to 2.78 million mt in June from 4.61 million mt in June 2014. Ukraine also extracted 740,000 mt of coking coal, which is used in steel making, down from 1.69 million mt produced a year ago.
In the first six months of the year, Ukraine extracted 19.47 million mt of coal, down 52.2% year-on-year from 40.74 million mt produced in January-June 2014, the official said, citing preliminary figures.
Output of thermal coal fell 47.7% to 15.41 million mt from 29.49 million mt extracted in January-June 2014, while production of coking coal decreased by 63.9% to 4.06 million mt from 11.25 million mt.
The plunge reflects an armed conflict between government forces and pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the country’s two key coal-producing regions.
In January-June coal output in the Donetsk region dropped by 61.5% year-on-year to 6.84 million mt, while production in the Luhansk region plummeted by 84.6% to 1.94 million mt.
Most of the coal mines in these two regions, including all anthracite coal mines, were shut down since the start of intensive fighting in June 2014. Anthracite, which has the highest calorific content of all types of coal, was widely used by power generation plants throughout the country.
Ukraine’s other coal-producing assets are located in Dnipropetrovsk, Lviv and Volyn regions, which are not part of the conflict zone.
Coal output in the Dnipropetrovsk region rose by 1.9% year-on-year to 9.51 million mt in January-June, output in the Lviv region soared by 20.2% year-on-year to 1.04 million mt, but production in the Volyn region fell 0.4% to 137,000 mt.
In 2014, Ukraine’s coal output decreased by 22.3% to 65 million mt from 83.7 million mt produced in 2013.
