REUTERS
Russia, the United States, and Kazakhstan were major coal suppliers over the three months.
Ukraine in January-March 2020 (Q1) reduced foreign currency spending on imports of mineral coal and anthracite by 36.1% year-over-year (y-o-y), to US$472.5 million.
Over the period under review, the country imported 4.380 million tonnes of coal, according to the State Customs Service of Ukraine.
Russia, the United States, and Kazakhstan were major suppliers of coal to Ukraine over the three months, the agency said.
Coal imports from Russia in monetary terms in Q1 amounted to US$308.81 million (65.35%), those from the U.S. stood at US$119.9 million (25.38%), while imports from Kazakhstan totaled US$22.29 million (4.7%). Relevant imports from other countries amounted to US$21.4 million.
Read alsoUkraine imposes 65% duty on coal imports from Russia
As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukraine in 2019 slashed spending on coal and anthracite imports by 7.2% from US$3.035 billion in 2018, to US$2.816 billion.
UNIAN memo. Ukraine started facing an acute shortage of coal since the summer of 2014 as a result of hostilities in the east of the country. It completely lost control over some areas in Donbas where most of coal mines are located. After that, the country started importing coal.
In April 2019, Russia restricted exports of products of its fuel and energy complex to Ukraine. Starting from June 1, 2019, coal, oil, and petroleum products could only be exported to Ukraine based on special permits issued by Russia's relevant agency.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine imposed a special duty at 65% on imports of coal, except for anthracite and coking coal, from Russia, effective from April 15, 2020.