Posted on 04 Nov 2022
Ukrainian authorities have lifted the ban coking coal exports, says government representative Taras Melnichuk.
“Export from Ukraine has been liberalised within certain volumes of quotas of coking coal not used for thermal generation,” he notes on social media.
In September, the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy banned coal exports in order to ensure supply for the heating season - in particular, the accumulation of sufficient fuel reserves for thermal generation (see Kallanish passim).
In January-September, the volume of exports of coal and anthracite from Ukraine amounted to 624,200 tonnes, according to Ukrainian customs data. The main consumers were Slovakia with a 60.6% share, Poland with a 24.9% share and Hungary with a 13.15% share.
Metinvest’s Pokrovskugol produced 4 million tonnes of coal in January-October, it says. During this period, the enrichment plant of the enterprise processed the entire volume of mined coal, which means that another 1.86mt of high-quality coal concentrate appeared, the enterprise claims.
In July, Metinvest put into operation the new southern longwall 13 of block 10 at Pokrovske coal mine (see Kallanish passim). Coal reserves are estimated at more than 1mt.
Metinvest's Pokrovske mine continues to produce coking coal and is currently operating four mining sites. The company also managed to find additional markets not only in Ukraine but also in other countries – Slovakia, Hungary, Poland – and is considering the possibility of cooperation with Western European plants. The coal export ban has presumably scuppered these plans.
In August, Kazakhstan introduced a ban on exports of coal by road for six months, effective 1 August (see Kallanish passim).
Prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, AMKR purchased 350,000t/month of coking coal, with the main supply coming from ArcelorMittal's Kazakhstan-based Temirtau steelworks. Previously, the plant received 30% of the required coal from Kazakhstan, which was shipped by rail through Russia. Now, this option has been removed.
Source:Kallanish
