Russia has become Ukraine’s main coal supplier
In the first quarter of 2017, coal imports from Russia to Ukraine amounted to 221,000 tons with a total import volume of 413,000 tons. A source in the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry shared this information with Interfax-Ukraine.
According to its data, for the first quarter, Ukrainian power plants received 72,900 tons of coal from South Africa, 221,600 tons from Russia and 118,900 tons from Poland.
Coal reserves in the warehouses of TPPs and CHPPs of Ukraine during March 2017 grew by 5.2% or 94,700 tons and by April 1 they amounted to 1.9 million tons.
It is worth noting that on March 3, Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Igor Nasalyk said that he intends to invite the Cabinet of Ministers to completely ban the import of anthracite coal from Russia in order to prevent possible supplies of coal mined in the Donbas under the guise of Russian-supplied raw materials. Nasalyk did not specify when exactly this question would be considered.
On April 11, this position was supported by Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman. “So far, there is no resolution but I believe that it is very important for us to diversify by any means and not to rely on supplies from Russia,” he said at a press conference.