Coal imports on rise in Ukraine

Ukraine in January-April 2018 increased by 30%, to $1.004 billion, expenditures to cover hard coal and anthracite imports, that's compared to January-April 2017, the State Fiscal Service reported.

According to the latest stats, over the reporting period, some 7.4 million tonnes of coal has been imported.

The largest suppliers remain Russia, the United States, and Canada.

Import of coal from Russia in monetary terms in January-April 2018 reached $643.6 million (64%), imports from the U.S. accounted for $288.4 million (28.7%), and from Canada they stood at $48.4 million (4.8%).

Read alsoCoal output in Ukraine shrinks by almost 20% in Jan-March 2018As UNIAN reported earlier, production of thermal and coking coal in Ukraine in 2017 shrank by 14.6% against 2016, to 34.916 million tonnes.

Hostilities in eastern Ukraine, which began in 2014, have caused a significant shortage of coal, primarily that of thermal anthracite group produced in militant-controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. After this, Ukraine started buying coal abroad.

In 2015, coal imports were estimated at $1.632 billion. Russia, the United States and Kazakhstan were the largest suppliers.

In 2016, Ukraine reduced spending on coal imports by 10%, to $1.467 billion.

In 2017, spending on coal imports rose by 1.87 times, to $2.744 billion.