Import and Export of Hard Coal and Their Impact on the Demand of the Power Industry in Poland

Abstract

The article discusses the position of coal in the consumption of primary energy carriers in the world and in Poland. Despite a decrease in the consumption of coal in the last two years, its share in the global economy is about 28%. For comparison in Europe this share is 15%, while in Poland 56%. Total world coal production in 2016 amounted to 3.66 billion toe. The decline of world coal production in relation to 2015 has decreased by 6% and was mainly due to a decline in production in China. The largest share of coal in the world's primary consumables is South Africa (about 70%), followed by China (62%) and India (57%). In 2015, world electricity production amounted to 24,255 TWh, of which the share of energy generated from coal was 39% (9538 TWh). This was the lowest share of coal energy generated in 2010–2015. The share of electricity produced from coal in the European Union in 2015 was 26% (ie 826 TWh). In Poland, the share of solid fuels in electricity production in 2011 was 79%, including on hard coal – 47%, and on lignite – 32%. Since 2010, the share of solid fuels in electricity production has decreased by 7.4 percentage points. In Poland, wind energy is the most dynamically developing. The power industry is already producing about 11 TWh (data for 2015). Since 2010, the energy sector has recorded more than 5-fold growth. In 2010-2016, power plants and CHPs consumed 36.78 to 42.94 million tonnes of coal. As a result, the share of sales by domestic coal producers accounted for 81 to 93% (32.45–38.88 million tonnes). The shortage of native raw materials was supplemented by the supply of imported coal. In the years 2010–2016 the total import of coal to Poland varied from 5.61 to 12.72 million tonnes. In 2010–2014 Poland was a net importer of steam coal. The sale of imported steam coal to the power industry in 2012–2016 varied from 0.32 to 1.66 million tonnes. The share of sold imported coal purchased by the power industry in 2012–2016 was: (i) 4.6–17.5% of sales of generally imported coal; (ii) 0.9–3.7% of domestic sales to power generation and (iii) 0.8–4.3% of coal consumption by power plants and CHPs.