On the Ukrainian charcoal market 2013 was a year of significant increase in charcoal demand from European countries. In particular, European Union consumption of Ukrainian charcoal increased by more than 25 thousand tons.
According to the European buyers and importers of Ukrainian charcoal database 2012-2013 prepared by the experts of Ukrainian Biofuel Portal pellets-wood.com, it is seen a significant growth in demand on the charcoal markets of Poland, Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Estonia, etc., where annual charcoal consumption per capita is more than 25 kg.
Poland is still the largest importer of Ukrainian charcoal with the volume of imports of around 40 thousand tons in 2013. Last year it was observed a slight decrease in imports (up to 10%) in Bulgaria, Italy and Estonia. After Poland follows Germany which imported around 13 thousand tons of charcoal last year, what was 3 thousand tons less than in 2012. Belgian companies imported about 10 thousand tons of charcoal from Ukraine what was ten times more than in the previous year. The Czech Republic also significantly increased its charcoal imports from Ukraine. In 2012 its imports amounted to 600 tons compared to 3,800 tons in 2013. Hungary and the Netherlands increased the volume of charcoal purchases by 50% in 2013.
In particular, Belgian company CARBOBOIS SA got a threefold increase of charcoal imports from 1640 tons in 2012 to 4730 tons in 2013. German Kaufland Warenhandel GmbH & Co. increased its volume of imports by almost 170% from 2400 tons to 4000 tons, Vamunio Kft. by 250% (from 1,130 tons to 2,800 tons), the Netherlands NORIT Nederland BV by almost 230% (from 1000 to 2430 tons). And the largest Czech company Artland s.r.o. increased the imports by more than 400% from 200 tons to 830 tons.
The experts of Ukrainian Biofuel Portal claim that one of the reasons for the growth in demand for Ukrainian charcoal in 2013 was the reduction in competitive supplies from Africa due to the unstable political and economic situation in the country.
So, in 2013 the main importers of Ukrainian charcoal among the countries of the European Union were Poland, Belgium, Germany, Slovakia, the Netherlands. In general, last year the EU bought a third more of Ukrainian charcoal – around 90 thousand tons compared to 65 thousand tons in 2012.
Author: Ivan Prokhorov
