Ukraine in talks with Australia, Kazakhstan to buy coal

KIEV, Jan 12 (PRIME) -- Ukraine plans to replace coal supplies from Russia and South Africa by imports from Australia and Kazakhstan soon, Energy Minister Vladimir Demchishin told parliamentarians on Monday.

“At the moment an active agreement with Australia and Kazakhstan has been initiated. The possibility of coal supplies from there is being worked out with the hope that first of all it will be diversification, and secondly it will give us an opportunity to reduce price,” he said.

Ukraine plans to import at least 300,000 tonnes of coal per month in order to avoid energy cuts, the minister said. In January the country plans to import 320,000 tonnes of coal from non-CIS countries.

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