Ukraine's coal output fell 9.4% year-on-year to 23.59 million mt in January-August, down from 26.05 million mt produced a year ago, the energy and coal industry ministry reported Thursday, citing preliminary data.
Thermal coal production dropped 5% to 19.09 million mt in the first eight months from 20.09 million mt, while coking coal output fell 24.5% to 4.5 million mt from 5.96 million mt.
"Currently we are experiencing shortages of thermal coal produced on the Ukrainian territory," Energy and Coal Industry Minister Ihor Nasalyk said Thursday.
Ukraine's coal production has been disrupted since June 2014 due to an armed conflict with pro-Russian rebels in Donetsk and Luhansk, the country's two key coal production regions.
The situation aggravated in February when the rebels completely shut down supplies of coal to Ukraine, diverting supplies to Russia.
Ukraine reacted by scrambling to increase imports of anthracite coal from South Africa and the US to make sure the country has enough coal to survive the six-month high-demand season that begins in October.
In August alone, Ukraine produced 2.54 million mt of coal, down 25.7% year-on-year from 3.42 million mt in August 2016 and also down from 2.64 million mt in July.
Extraction of thermal coal dropped 25.4% to 2.09 million mt in August from 2.8 million mt in the same period a year ago, while coking coal output fell 26.8% to 454,000 mt from 620,000 mt.
Ukraine produced 40.86 million mt of coal in 2016, up from 39.74 million mt in 2015.
