The first batch of coal from South Africa arrived in Ukraine
This year's first batch of anthracite coal arrived in Ukraine, according to a Facebook post written by the Minister of Energy and Coal Industry, Ihor Nasalyk.
In April, the DTEK company, owned by businessman Rinat Akhmetov, bought 600,000 tons of anthracite in South Africa. It was noted that this is the first time in Ukraine's history that such volumes of anthracite were purchased at distant markets in such a short time.
"The first PANAMAX [ship] from South Africa arrived in Ukraine with anthracite coal," he wrote.
In his comments to UNN, the Minister specified that there are 70,000 tons of coal on board the ship.
"It will take at least 8-10 days to unload. We are now developing logistics so that when it arrives (cargo - Ed.), there will not be any downtime, since this is a huge expense," he said.
According to the Minister, DTEK contracted with South Africa for 650,000 tons of anthracite coal with the possibility of expanding it up to 1 million tons.
The day before, the Cabinet approved the coal strategy of Ukraine, which provides for the abandonment of anthracite coal by 2019.