The European Union sharply reduced the import of energy coal from Russia on the eve of the complete ban on its purchase, which exacerbates the fears of an intensifying energy crisis, writes Financial Times.
MP to the European Union from Russia in June amounted to only 1.7 million tons, which is 48% lower than the May volume. According to Cru CRU, this is the most significant reduction since at least 2019. Prior to this, the indicator increased for three consecutive months. CRU analyst Dmitry Popov believes that European companies probably accumulated a significant amount of Russian coal before introducing a complete ban on its imports. “We hear that there are not enough warehouses for iron ore because they are busy with coal,” Popov said.
The publication notes that European countries are increasingly dependent on coal due to limited supplies of Russian gas in recent months. Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and France plan this year to use coal power plants to cover gas deficiency, which means that the reduction of imports from Russia will probably lead to an increase in electricity prices.