Ukrainian ports will soon accept five ships with imported coal from the United States with a total volume of approximately 280,000 tonnes, a government source has told Interfax-Ukraine.
“Five ships are on the way: four for DTEK and one for state-owned Centrenergo,” he said.
The interlocutor clarified that Centrenergo expects to receive 72,000 tonnes of coal by Nov. 14, and then by Nov. 25 – another 66,000 tonnes. He recalled that the state-owned company received funds for the purchase of this coal thanks to a large contract for the sale of electricity with NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy.
According to the source, the state-owned company also buys some volumes of coal in Kazakhstan, but China is currently the largest importer in that market, with which it is difficult to compete.
The interlocutor clarified that the transit of coal from Kazakhstan through Russia is currently carried out without obstacles, while Russia has stopped the export of its coal to Ukraine.
According to the State Customs Service, in October, the value of imports of steam coal to Ukraine increased to $42.99 million from $17.12 million in October 2020, while a month earlier imports were less – $33.36 million against $20.34 million in September 2020.
In October of this year, the main imports of thermal coal were carried out from the Russian Federation – in the amount of $34.56 million compared to $26.49 million a month earlier, while imports from Poland amounted to $6.32 million (in September – $5.92 million), from Kazakhstan – $1.28 million ($120,000), and there were no imports from the United States, according to customs statistics.
