Several tens of thousands of citizens in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) cannot buy coal this year, which they use for heating during the winter.
One of the reasons for the shortage is the growth of exports, primarily to Serbia, and the second is reduced production in mines.
In the first seven months of this year, coal exports doubled compared to the same period last year, according to the data of the BiH Indirect Tax Administration. 207,000 tons of coal were exported, which is approximately the amount consumed annually by households in BiH.
The value of this year’s coal exports is about 31 million BAM(16 million euros). Of that number, coal worth 28 million BAM(14 million euros) was sold to Serbia.
BiH annually produces about 13.5 million tons of coal. Citizens use about 225,000 tons for heating annually, or less than two percent of the total production.
This year, BiH exported coal at an average price of 148 BAM(76 euros) per ton. This is lower than last year’s average price, which was 158 BAM (81 euros) per ton.
Zarko Simic is the director of the company “AOP-MIS” from Tuzla, which for years has been procuring large quantities of coal from Tuzla mines, then sells it and delivers it to households by truck.
Truck drivers wait for months in front of the mine to load coal that is not available. That’s the reason, says Simic, why his company can’t even cover its business expenses.
Due to poor operations, the mines of Elektroprivreda BiH do not manage to produce enough coal even for the needs of their own thermal power plants.
For this reason, Elektroprivreda BiH has purchased coal from private mines in recent years, such as the mine of the company “EFT” in Stanari, in the north of BiH.
“It is obvious that the majority of mines in the region and BiHare not ready to provide sufficient quantities of coal, both for the production of electricity and for general consumption,” Savo Mirkovic, director of the company “EFT – Mine and Thermal Power Plan Stanari told.
“We will see whether we will provide the conditions and the necessary quantities to meet the needs of the majority of the domestic market and citizens by the end of September or October,” says Sinan Husic, president of the Union of Mine Workers of the Federation of BiH (FBiH).
Coal reserves that can be profitably exploited in BiH amount to 2.5 billion tons. Annually, the mines produce about 13.5 million tons, which means that there are reserves for at least 185 years of exploitation at the current rate, RSE writes.
E.Dz.
