In the first eight months of the current year, Ukraine's coal mining output decreased by 8.9 percent year on year to 49.8202 million mt, according to Ukraine's Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry.
In the meantime, in the first eight months this year Ukrainian state-owned mines produced 14.729 million mt, down 4.9 percent year on year.
Meanwhile, in August alone Ukraine's coal mining production amounted to 3.4921 million mt, down by half compared to August 2013 due to the impact of the armed conflict in the Donetsk region. This volume includes 639,800 mt of coking coal and 2.8523 million mt of thermal coal.
Ukraine needs to import 1 million mt of coal a month because of the termination of a number of mines and its inability to deliver coal from Donbass to Ukrainian thermal power plants.
The Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine has evaluated current reserves at Ukrainian heat power plants as insufficient and enough for 50 days in the most optimistic situation. The coal deficiency will be compensated for with supplies from South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and probably the US.