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Development.
Coking coal imports seem unlikely to become a bottleneck for Ukrainian iron and steel production in the near future. Rather, it is the dire situation at the world steel markets that is limiting Ukraine’s iron and steel exports and production volumes, and therefore the demand for coke and coking coal.
Ukrainian export iron and steel prices stabilized in early November and had been rebounding until mid-January, but the situation with the coronavirus in China is likely to depress these prices in the near future.
Mining licenses will be exclusively allotted through auctions on ProZorro. Sale, the online e-auction platform, Prime Minister Honcharuk says on Telegram. “The enrichment of corrupt officials at the expense of natural resources is an unacceptable story,” he writes. “The bowels of Ukraine will work exclusively in the interests of the Ukrainian people.”
Ukraine produced 31mn tons of coal in 2019 -- 23% of the amount in 1991, the year of Independence. During 150 years of coal mining in Ukraine, volumes peaked in 1976, when 218mn tons was produced in Ukraine SSR - about half of all Soviet metallurgical coal. Since then low coal prices have not justified investment, subsidies have been cut, and many mines have been closed.
58 UKRAINE Country Report March 2020 www.intellinews.com
