FX.co ★ Ukraine to buy 1 million tons of coal from South Africa

Ukraine will buy one million tons of coal from South Africa because the military conflict in the Donbass region has disrupted domestic coal production, Interfax – Ukraine reported citing Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk. Ukraine’s Premier stated, "They (the rebels) bombed our main coal mines ... and so the government has already signed an agreement on the supply of one million tons of coal from South Africa.” Yatseniuk spoke to the televised cabinet session, “Private companies are also purchasing coal. The situation was quite tough a month ago. Currently, we manage to keep the balance.” The Prime Minister added that Ukraine’s authorities are making all efforts to enable the energy sector to operate in full.
Interfax – Ukraine noted that the coal output in Ukraine slumped twice by 3.369 million tons to 3.492 million tons in August 2014 as compared to August 2013 due to the hostilities in Donbass.
September 2, Ukraine’s Ministry of energy and coal industry reported that the whole coal mining equipment as well as related civil engineering and transport infrastructure (such as electrical power plants, railway, etc) have been either completely destroyed or damaged in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions. It means that the fully-fledged performance of the regional mining industry is hardly possible. As of September 1, 2014 only 24 mines of 91 ones which are under the energy ministry control are set for routine operation. Most mines of both public and private sectors are in the area supervised by militants. Meanwhile, Mikhail Volynets, the Chairman of independent union of Ukraine’s miners warned that coal supplies at Ukrainian power plants needed for electricity production is sufficient until November 2014.