At the beginning of the heating season, it became nervous in the coal depots. The raw material descends on the trunk, so the lines are already forming at night. Some mines have introduced daily sales limits for customers, some have completely suspended retail sales. Meanwhile, the vision of further price increases does not lead to postponing purchases until later.
- Heating coal trading companies estimate that the prices of the raw material have increased by about 30 percent this year.
- Recipients who need 3 tons of coal for the winter must take into account the costs of PLN 2.7 thousand. PLN up to 4.2 thousand. zloty
- Due to the increased demand and the limited availability of Russian coal, the warehouses are running out of raw material
- PGG introduced a daily limit per person, and PG Silesia stopped retail sales
- According to industry representatives, prices may increase even more during the heating season
- More such information can be found on the main page of Onet.pl
The beginning of autumn has always been a hot period on the heating coal market. It is at the turn of September and October that many people stock up on fuel for the winter. This year, however, the demand for coal has increased, and the availability of the raw material – both Polish and from across the eastern border – is limited.
– Increased demand causes problems with the availability of heating coal in some locations. Customers wind up on their own, because seeing rising prices, they often buy more raw material than usual and the demand grows. On the other hand, Russian coal, which was usually cheaper than Polish coal, is today an expensive salvation for domestic recipients. This is due to the fact that the Asian or Turkish markets offer prices much higher than we are able to offer. Thus We have significantly less Russian coal on the market, and when it reaches us, it is expensive – this is how the situation is explained by Łukasz Horbacz, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Polish Coal Sellers.
For example, Rybnik is experiencing the siege mines of Polska Grupa Górniczawhich have good quality charcoal. Some customers come there before dawn so as not to leave with the receipt. In order to calm the situation and serve as many people as possible, PGG introduced daily limits for the purchase of coal, reaching 3 – 5 million tonnes.
– Due to the great interest before the heating season, we have introduced a daily sales limit per contractor from three to five tons, depending on the mine. We want as many households as possible in the vicinity of a given mine to be able to buy coal before the heating season, and that no one left empty-handed. We also implement contracts for authorized coal sellers who supply coal to buyers throughout Poland – explains Tomasz Głogowski, PGG spokesman.
It is calmer at Tauron Wydobycie points of sale. – The sale is carried out on an ongoing basis. The company records a much greater demand for products for individual customers as compared to the previous years. This applies to both own points of sale and authorized sellers – the press services of this company inform us and add: – The current market situation allows us to look calmly at the security of Tauron Wydobycie sales plans and it can be expected that it will improve the company’s results in 2022.
Export is more profitable
The situation is completely different in Przedsiębiorstwo Górniczy Silesia, which was taken over by Polish Bumech from the Czech EPH. This mine stopped completely sale of coal for households.
– The demand for coal is so great that it exceeds our production capacity. Due to the current market situation, we have decided to maximize our capacity. This year, we will be able to extract about 1.5 – 1.6 million tons of coal, compared to 1.2 million tons a year ago. However already in 2022, we plan to produce 2 million tons of coal, but we have applications for up to 4 million tons of coal. Due to the possibility of achieving higher prices abroad, our coal is also exported. However, we are not able to serve individual customers, which is why we have suspended the retail sale of coal this year – explains Marcin Sutkowski, president of PG Silesia.
It may be even more expensive
The information we hear from coal sellers shows that the increase in prices of the most popular coal types this season is significant, and further increases are also possible. The rates vary depending on the quality of the raw material and the location of sale. For example, for a nut you have to pay 0.9 – 1.2 thousand. PLN, and the prices of eco-pea coal range from 1 thousand. up to 1.4 thousand zloty.
– Heating coal prices are currently around 30 percent. higher than last year. I will say perversely that this is largely due to decarbonization. For two years now, we have been talking about a rapid move away from coal, which is why mining companies around the world have not invested in increasing production capacity. And now that gas prices have risen sharply, coal has become an attractive fuel again, and Polish coal-fired power plants are working at full capacity, says Horbacz. – I hope that the current situation will show everyone the advantages of coal: that it can be stored and that we can be sure that we will not run out of heat. I think coal has a chance to come back into favor, argues the IGSPW chief.
Tauron Wydobycie, on the other hand, talks about much smaller increases. In his mines, the prices of the so-called Coarse coal for households increased by only 2 percent compared to the previous year, and the prices of eco-pea coal by about 8 percent.
Industry representatives have no doubts that the rates may be even higher. – Coal prices in Poland will continue to grow as they are significantly lower than in the world. And world prices in the medium term will gradually decline, but never return to pre-pandemic levels. – believes Sutkowski.
No more coal
In the “State Energy Policy until 2040” we can read that in 2018, as much as 88 percent. of households in the villages used coal to heat their rooms. In cities, coal-fired boilers had almost 25 percent. farms. This is gradually changing.
Expansion is underway in urban areas heating networks. For two years now, there has been a total ban on the use of coal and wood for heating buildings in Kraków. They also do their own subsidy programs for the replacement of old stoves, the so-called smock, under which you can replace the device, for example, with a gas one. However, we still have a lot of soothers – at the beginning of this year, the Polish Smog Alarm calculated that almost 3 million Polish households still use non-class boilers for heating.
The state’s energy policy assumes that ultimately households will not burn coal at all. It is expected to happen in cities by 2030, and in rural areas by 2040.
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