This number was given by the trade-analytical system of Ukrainian Biofuel Portal. 80% of Ukrainian charcoal is imported by only 4 EU state members.
Ukraine exported 162,208.33 MT of charcoal in 2015 MY. March and April 2015 saw the biggest import volumes, with 22,392.52 MT and 21,404.35 MT respectively. The smallest activity of the importers was registered in August and September of the previous year, with 6,845.51 and 7,543.30 MT bought respectively. Export dynamics of 2015 MY is as follows: 1 quarter – 53,439.61 MT, 2 quarter – 52,127.36 MT, 3 quarter – 26,025.80 MT, 4 quarter – 30,615.55 MT. Hence, basing on the above given data prepared by Ukrainian Biofuel Portal we can conclude that the importers were at the peak of their activity in the first half of the last year while the third quarter of the previous year saw a significant fall of export operations, which can be explained by the summer season.
Although the majority of the list is the countries of the Eurozone, the US, a spectacular oversea player, can be seen among the purchasers. A few countries from the Middle East are also interested in Ukrainian charcoal, among them Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Iraq, Lebanon, the UAE. The Reunion island, an exotic purchaser, is also to be seen among the importing countries. But at the same time it should be noted that it was the countries of the EU that purchased the main volume of Ukrainian charcoal.
According to the Database of the European Importers of Ukrainian charcoal, in the period between 2015 and the first quarter of 2016 7,5435.80 MT were purchased by Poland, followed by Germany with 19,981.33 MT and Belgium with 17,184.58 MT. The Czech Republic with 7,573.20 MT of purchased charcoal takes the fourth place on the list of importing countries. In total, in 2015 MY these four countries purchased 12,0174.91 MT of Ukrainian charcoal. According to Sergey Kozlov, the leading market expert of the Ukrainian Biofuel Portal, for many years the Eurozone countries have been holding the lead in the import of Ukrainian charcoal. It is mostly due to the minimizing of logistic expenses as it is the logistic element that plays the key role as far as final prices for charcoal are concerned.
The first quarter of this year saw 38,056.14 MT of export volumes. Ukrainian charcoal was exported to 35 countries of the world. As in the previous year, the list of the exporting countries was also quite extensive, with the EU members, Libya, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and even Panama. The main volume of the export share is accounted for by the European countries, and the same tendency could be seen in the last few years. According to the Ukrainian biofuel portal database of the European purchasers of Ukrainian charcoal, only in the first quarter of the current year the fuel was purchased by 272 foreign companies. 10,789.15 MT of charcoal were exported in January, 12,044.86 MT – in February and 15,222.13 MT – in March. Similar to the previous marketing year, March saw the biggest export activity of the Ukrainian charcoal manufacturers. Like in 2015, European countries have the main export share. The four importing countries from the EU are as follows: Poland (17,028 t), Belgium (7, 368 t) and Romania (1, 795 t). In total, in the first quarter of the current year these four countries imported 30, 489 MT of Ukrainian charcoal, which is almost 80 % of the overall volume of the Ukrainian charcoal export in the given period. It can be seen that the separate shares of the main European importers stay almost the same.
As compared to the similar period in 2015 MY, so far in 2016 Ukraine has sold 15, 383 MT of charcoal less, thus, in the first quarter of 2016 the export volumes of charcoal fell by 29 % as compared with the first quarter of the previous year. The main importers, Poland in particular, are showing somewhat less interest in purchasing Ukrainian charcoal. It remains to be seen whether the tendency will continue. Alongside with the cut of export to the major purchasers from Europe, the Ukrainian manufacturers significantly extended the geographic boarders of their business. There are now countries from the Middle East and North Africa to be seen on the list of importers and more European countries are purchasing Ukrainian charcoal.
The supplies of the product to the contractors in the period between 2015 MY and the first quarter of 2016 MY were carried out on CIF, CIP, CPT, DAP, DDP, DDU, EXW, FAS, FCA, FOB terms of supply.
According to Sergey Kozlov, the fall of the Ukrainian charcoal export volumes is a temporal phenomenon. "Our information resource [Ukrainian Biofuel Portal] prepared the European charcoal importers database, which includes detailed information about 187 importing companies from 25 countries", the expert says. "The database gives precise information on export dynamics for the given period in value and real terms, which helps draw necessary conclusions. As far as price policies are concerned, the database includes information on the terms and prices of supply. Here, both newly-minted and experienced charcoal manufacturers from Ukraine will find detailed information on the European charcoal purchasers. This will help them study the international market in order to make necessary decisions. In my opinion, factors which reduced Ukrainian charcoal export volumes are caused by market dynamics and do not reflect any negative tendencies of the world biofuel market. Certainly, specific climate conditions of the previous winter on the European continent are also factors which negatively influenced the export dynamics ", says the expert.
The detailed analysis of the Ukrainian Biofuel Portal Database clearly shows that the Ukrainian manufacturers have been export oriented. The key principle of the export is long terms and productive cooperation with a foreign purchaser helping manufacturers find stability in times of economic crisis. Poland, the closest neighbor of Ukraine, has been the main charcoal purchaser for the last years. The Polish share of charcoal export accounted for 45% in 2015. Surely, Poland defines the export activity of Ukrainian charcoal manufacturers being important strategic partner for many of them. Nevertheless, a lot of market traders are indecisive concerning the Polish contractors, saying that it is hard to negotiate with them in terms of prices and terms of supply as the latter ones often try to benefit from the predicament of the Ukrainian economy during the last two years.
According to the experts of the Biofuel market, in the nearest future the Ukrainian charcoal manufacturing will continue to be export-oriented, though a significant part of the product is consumed by the national market. Two factors make possible the development and increase of export volumes. The first one is the increase of export volumes on the well utilized European market. In order to make it work effectively, one should be at home with European contractors as well as be familiar with relevant market prices and support a steady contact with the contractors. This requires full, true and up-to-date information as to the situation on the European biofuel market, which reflects the current state of things to the full extent and can help foresee its development in the nearest future. The given database of the European importers of Ukrainian charcoal prepared by the Ukrainian Biofuel Portal pellets-wood.com gives the Ukrainian manufacturers all the necessary information including the contacts of the companies.
The second thing is that the Ukrainian charcoal exporters should actively seek and utilize new markets. Judging from the extending purchasers’ audience, the marketing services of the Ukrainian manufacturers are quite effective. The market of the Middle East could be of special interest as potentially it is rather receptive and there is a traditionally high demand for charcoal, which is mainly due to the customs of the Middle East countries.
