The Ukrainian Coke Producers Association (Ukrkoks) has warned about a possible shortage of coke supplies to domestic steel companies in September due to the announced plans of the state railway administration to cut imported coking coal supplies.
In addition, Russian Railways has announced that it plans to reduce coking coal supplies to Ukraine in September in order to allocate additional railways cars for domestic deliveries. The limitation of coking coal shipments from Russia - the largest coking coal exporter to Ukraine - may pose a danger of shortages of available coke in the Ukrainian market. The price of this raw material may consequently increase in the Ukrainian market, thereby affecting the Ukrainian steel producers in a negative way.