In January-August 2021, Ukraine’s coal imports soared to 13.1 mio t (+1.4 mio t or +12% y-o-y).
Ukraine received 9.5 mio t or 72% of its coal imports from Russia, 2.3 mio t or 18% from Kazakhstan and 1.3 mio t or 10% from the US.
On June 15, 2021, the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy called on coal-fired local power plants to boost coal imports to accumulate over 3.0 mio t of coal in stocks in the run-up to heating season. Currently, Ukraine’s overall coal reserves are 1.0 mio t (+0.1 mio t to September 01, 2021), owing to increased power consumption amid heat waves, which spurred coal-fired generation this summer. Coal inventories at Ukrainian power plants remain at critically low levels, which are 2 mio t less than the volumes scheduled by the energy ministry.
On December 16, 2020, Ukraine prolonged 65% duty on coal imports from Russia until the end of 2021. The duty was not imposed on imports of anthracite and coking coal, the two types of coal that Ukraine facing shortage.
In 2020, Ukraine imported 17 mio t of coal (-20% to 2019).
Source: CAA Analytics
