Kiev — Ukraine increased imports of coal, including anthracite, by 20% on the year to 15.64 million mt in January-September from 13.03 million mt a year ago, the state customs service reported Monday.
If measured by value, imports of coal increased by 15% to $2.19 billion, compared with $1.9 billion in January-September 2017, according to the customs service.
Most of the coal imports, 62.7%, came from Russia, but also from the US (30.6%) and Canada (4%), according to the service.
In September, Ukraine imported 1.48 million mt of coal, down from 1.81 million mt in September 2017, but up from 1.27 million mt in August.
Ukraine increased coal imports amid declining domestic production, according to the energy and coal industry ministry.
The country extracted 24.85 million mt of coal in January-September, down 5% year-on-year from the 26.15 million mt produced a year ago.
Ukraine's thermal power plants and heat producers accumulated 1.89 million mt of coal in stocks as of October 8, up 22% from 1.55 million mt stashed as of October 8, 2017, according to the ministry.
The government earlier this year set a target to accumulate 2.6 million mt of coal by November 1 in stocks for the upcoming high-demand season.
