According to the European Union's official statistics office, Eurostat, Kazakhstan supplied twice as much coal between January to May of 2022 than it did in the entirety of 2021, Qazmonitor reports citing Tengrinews.
Overall, Kazakhstan has supplied 1.5 million tons of coal to the EU this year. From January to February of this year, the volume of Kazakhstan's coal supplied to the EU amounted to 140,000-200,000 tons. After the start of the war in Ukraine, the number doubled to 300,000-400,000 tons per month.
As a comparison, export volume of Kazakh coal a year ago, between April and May, amounted to 60,000-70,000 tons.
Eurostat notes that Europe is now preparing for a full embargo on Russian coal due August, and will, therefore, look for new suppliers of energy resources. Kazakhstan is well on its way to becoming one of the regular suppliers.
Analysts say that Kazakhstan has the potential to increase its coal exports to the EU since its coal is suitable for European power plants. The largest coal producers in the country, which make up more than 50% of the market share, are Bogatyr Komir and Shubarkol Komir. Another 16% of production comes from EEC JSC, which mines steam coal at the Vostochny open-pit mine next to Bogatyr.
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