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Production of thermal and coking coal in Ukraine in January-September 2015 more than halved compared with the same period last year, due to the hostilities in the Donbass region, down to 29.643 million tonnes from 53.4 million tonnes, according to the country’s Energy Ministry.
State-owned mines produced 5.016 million tonnes, or 16.9%, of the total volume of Ukrainian coal, reads the report.
In September, coal production in Ukraine amounted to 3.607 million tonnes. State mines produced 527,000 tonnes of coal in the said period.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukraine reduced extraction of thermal and coking coal by 22% in 2014 year-over-year, to 65 million tonnes, because of the hostilities in Donbass. Production of thermal coal declined by 29.3%, down to 44.7 million tonnes.
UNIAN memo. The fighting in the east of the country, lasting since April of last year, resulted in a significant shortage of coal (primarily anthracite coal), production of which is concentrated in militant-controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Deficiency affects the coal-fed power plants, which are forced to reduce production capacity.