coal/REUTERS
Ukrainian state company Centrenergo is expecting the arrival of the first batch of coal from South Africa in the amount of 168,000 tonnes by December 4.
The coal is being supplied under a bilateral contract with Swiss company Mercuria, the company informed.
As reported, Centrenergo operates three thermal power plants, which are suffering from an acute shortage of anthracite coal caused by the Russian aggression in the east of Ukraine, the country's main coal mining area.
The company also reported that last week it signed an agreement on additional supplies scheduled for January 2016.
As UNIAN reported earlier, currently Ukraine is consuming about 25,000 tonnes of anthracite coal daily, taking into account the termination of power supplies to the temporarily occupied Crimea and reduction in nuclear capacities by 500 MW, according to Ukrainian Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Volodymyr Demchyshyn.
Shipments of about 250,000 tonnes of coal from South Africa to Ukraine are expected on December 4-12.