Ukraine doubles coal imports, over half supplied from Russia

Russia remained the major supplier of coal over the period under review, accounting for 56.4% of total supplies worth $1.37 billion, the report said.

It is followed by the United States (24.8%, $603.8 million) and Canada (6.2%, $149.9 million).

Coal imports from other countries were estimated at $30.7 million in total.

The country's coal exports to Russia over the 11 months amounted to $54.8 million, Slovakia ($36.6 million), Turkey ($2.6 million), and other countries ($3.9 million), the agency said.

Read alsoUkraine significantly reduces consumption of scarce anthraciteAs UNIAN reported earlier, 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 with coal mines. After that, the country began to import coal.

In 2016, Ukraine reduced spending on coal imports by 10% from 2015, to $1.467 billion.

Read alsoGroysman: Ukraine to give up coal importsThis year, the two largest power generation companies that consume thermal coal have contracted anthracite from South Africa (DTEK) and the United States (Centrenergo). At the same time, DTEK imports gas coal from the U.S.