Ukraine cuts coal output by 5% since year's start

Output of thermal and coking coal in Ukraine in January-September 2018 decreased by 5% compared to the same period last year, to 24.849 million tonnes.

State-owned coal mines produced 3.15 million tonnes of coal during the reporting period, which is 11% less than in the same period of 2017, a report by Ukraine's Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry, posted on the website of the Trade Union of Coal Industry Workers, said.

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In September alone, coal mining enterprises of all types of ownership produced 2.782 million tonnes of coal.

As UNIAN reported, the extraction of thermal and coking coal in Ukraine in 2017 decreased by 14.6% compared to 2016, to 34.916 million tonnes. Today, hostilities the country's east and blockade of trade with Russian-occupied areas are causes behind a significant deficit of coal, primarily thermal coal, or anthracite, produced in uncontrolled areas in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.