Kiev (Platts)--23Nov2012/601 am EST/1101 GMT
Ukrainian trade unions on Thursday warned of protests unless the government takes measures to restrict imports of coal into the country. The Independent Trade Union of Coal Miners and Independent Union of Donbass Coal Miners issued a joint statement accusing the government of disregarding the problems of the coal industry. "A massive amount of coal is being accumulated at domestic coal mines, both thermal and coking coal, while at the same time 60-70% more expensive coal is widely imported from abroad," the unions said in the statement. "Also, there is 7 million mt/year of coal that has been illegally extracted and undocumented" that is hurting domestic coal prices in Ukraine. The unions accused the government of defending the interests of coal importers and of paying little attention to the problems of the domestic coal industry, leaving thousands of coal miners in uncertainty. Article continues below...Request a free trial of: International Coal ReportInternational Coal Report and its daily companion, Coal Trader International, deliver expert and respected price assessments for coal trading in the Atlantic and Pacific markets including price assessments for European CIF ARA, FOB Newcastle, Richards Bay and Indonesia.
Ukrainian trade unions on Thursday warned of protests unless the government takes measures to restrict imports of coal into the country. The Independent Trade Union of Coal Miners and Independent Union of Donbass Coal Miners issued a joint statement accusing the government of disregarding the problems of the coal industry. "A massive amount of coal is being accumulated at domestic coal mines, both thermal and coking coal, while at the same time 60-70% more expensive coal is widely imported from abroad," the unions said in the statement. "Also, there is 7 million mt/year of coal that has been illegally extracted and undocumented" that is hurting domestic coal prices in Ukraine. The unions accused the government of defending the interests of coal importers and of paying little attention to the problems of the domestic coal industry, leaving thousands of coal miners in uncertainty.
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International Coal Report and its daily companion, Coal Trader International, deliver expert and respected price assessments for coal trading in the Atlantic and Pacific markets including price assessments for European CIF ARA, FOB Newcastle, Richards Bay and Indonesia.
The unions demanded the government to introduce quotas on imports of coal into Ukraine, and also to crack down on illegal extraction of coal to revive the industry. "If our demands are ignored, we will resort to the most decisive actions and protests," the unions said in the statement. Over January-September Ukraine imported about 8.6 million mt of coking coal, which is used in the production of coke, up 17.8% from 7.3 million mt imported over January-September 2011. Ukraine's coal output increased 5.5% to 64.01 million mt over January-September, up from 60.7 million mt produced a year ago.--Alexander Bor, newsdesk@platts.com--Edited by Elston Soares, elston_soares@platts.com
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