Coke and chemical plants of Ukraine in January-April of this year imported 3.13 million tonnes of raw coking coal and coking coal concentrate, which is 1.9% more than in the same period last year.
According to the information report of the Ukrmetalurgprom association, the supply of Ukrainian coal mined during this period amounted to 1.27 million tonnes, which is 0.3% more than in the same period last year.
In general, in January-April 2021, Ukrainian coke and chemical plants received 4.4 million tonnes of coal for coking, which is 1.4% more compared to January-April 2020. At the same time, the share of imported coals in the total supply amounted to 71% versus 70.7% in January-April 2020.
Some 2.725 million tonnes of coke (101.3% versus January-April 2020) were supplied to Ukrainian metallurgical enterprises, including 2.683 million tonnes of Ukrainian origin (100.3%), and 42,000 tonnes of imported coke (2.8 times more than in January-April 2020). The share of imported coke in the total supply amounted to 1.54% versus 0.56% in January-April last year.
In addition, in January-April 2021, some 1.187 million tonnes of scrap metal were procured (130.1% compared to the same period in 2020), of which 1.1 million tonnes (122.1% compared to January-April 2020) were supplied to domestic consumers as imported. Exports of scrap metal in January-April 2021 amounted to 87,000 tonnes (750% compared to the same period in 2020).
It is noted that the provision of metallurgical enterprises with Ukrainian iron ore raw materials for the specified period was carried out in accordance with the needs of metallurgical production. The iron ore was not imported. Iron ore exports in January-April 2021 amounted to 14.21 million tonnes (92% compared to the same period in 2020).
According to the updated data of Ukrmetalurgprom, in January-April of this year, enterprises produced 11.037 million tonnes of sinter (107% versus January-April 2020), some 3.251 million tonnes of gross coke with moisture content 6% (101.1%), some 7.073 million tonnes of cast iron (109%), some 7.136 million tonnes of steel (107.2%), some 6.39 million tonnes of rolled products (107%), and 290,000 tonnes of pipe products (105.2%).
As of May 13, 2021, of the main operating production facilities 17 out of 21 blast furnaces, seven out of eight open-hearth furnaces, 12 out of 16 converters, five out of 15 electric furnaces and 15 out of 17 continuous casting machines were in operation.
DTEK will increase coal imports to 450,000 tonnes in February, which will secure the operation of as much equipment of the company’s power plants as possible in February-March, as well as allow meeting obligations to Centerenergo, DTEK CEO Maksym Timchenko has said.
“We are overcoming the lack of coal through contracts with Poland and Kazakhstan. In February, we will have 450,000 tonnes of imported coal. We are meeting our obligations to Centrenergo to supply 250,000 tonnes of coal. We extract coal in our mines as much as it is technically possible. And we bring the coal imbalance that is needed to get through February-March,” he said.
According to Timchenko, the company imports about 120,000-150,000 tonnes of coal per month from Russia.
“In Ukraine, there is no way to have our own anthracite, so we bring it from Russia. We bring our anthracite, which we extract at our Obukhovskaya mine. We bring 120,000-150,000 tonnes per month. But in order to attract additional resources quotas are to be obtained in the Russian Federation. These quotas are reduced for political or non-political reasons. That is, we have no rhythm in deliveries,” the head of the company said.
Timchenko noted DTEK’s readiness to use natural gas as a fuel in case of need for its own TPPs. “In February-March, we will declare the maximum load-bearing equipment, and this equipment composition will be provided with fuel, coal or gas, on certain days when the system requires it. We have gas burning limits, and we always understand that we can have a plan B if there are problems with the supply of coal,” the CEO of DTEK said.
