The fall in the Ukrainian coal mining was caused not only by war, but also by the underfinancing of the industry.
“Coal output fell in Donbass due to war. As to the rest of Ukraine, namely Pavlograd and Lviv-Volyn region, the cause is the underfinancing. Budget subventions are not provided for this year. So, the prospecting stops, and the output falls”, says the energy expert Valentin Zemlyansky.
He added that such a fall was really difficult to substitute with imports.
“We could get some coal from Poland or from SAR. But it won’t help. It increases our reserves a bit, and that’s all. But for winter we still need 3.5 million tons of anthracite”, he stated.
In January-October Ukraine mined 42.1% less coal YoY. (Ukrainian metal)