Ukraine’s coal extraction in June decreased by 44.3% YoY to 3.51 million tons, down from 6.3 million tons in June 2014, but up from 3.24 million tons produced in May, an energy and coal industry ministry official said.
The output of thermal coal, which is used in power generation, decreased to 2.78 million tons in June from 4.61 million tons in June 2014. Ukraine also extracted 740,000 tons of coking coal, which is used in steel making, down from 1.69 million tons produced a year ago.
In the first six months of the year, Ukraine extracted 19.47 million tons of coal, down by 52.2% YoY from 40.74 million tons produced in January-June 2014, the official said, citing preliminary figures.
Output of thermal coal fell by 47.7% to 15.41 million tons from 29.49 million tons extracted in January-June 2014, while production of coking coal decreased by 63.9% to 4.06 million tons from 11.25 million tons.
The plunge reflects an armed conflict between government forces and pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, the country’s two key coal-producing regions.
In January-June coal output in the Donetsk region dropped by 61.5% YoY to 6.84 million tons, while production in the Lugansk region plummeted by 84.6% to 1.94 million tons.
Most of the coal mines in these two regions, including all anthracite coal mines, were shut down since the start of intensive fighting in June 2014. Anthracite, which has the highest calorific content of all types of coal, was widely used by power generation plants throughout the country.
Ukraine’s other coal-producing assets are located in Dniepropetrovsk, Lviv and Volyn regions, which are not part of the conflict zone.
Coal output in the Dniepropetrovsk region rose by 1.9% YoY to 9.51 million tons in January-June, output in the Lviv region soared by 20.2% YoY to 1.04 million tons, but production in the Volyn region fell by 0.4% to 137,000 tons.
In 2014 Ukraine’s coal output decreased by 22.3% to 65 million tons from 83.7 million tons in 2013. (https://www.platts.com/latest-news/coal/kiev/ukraines-coal-extraction-in-june-down-44-on-year-26145344/Ukrainian metal)