In general, all coal suppliers have reduced exports to Europe. In 2020, EU member states imported a total of 53.6 million tons of coal. This represents a 39 % drop in imports, due to the low utilization of coal-fired power plants, which had a difficult year due to the economic downturn and low gas prices.
In terms of physical volume, this mostly refers to Russia – by 10.2 million tons, to the amount of 37.8 million tons. However, Russia remains the largest supplier of coal to Europe and has increased its share of total European imports from 59 % to 68 %.
Europe’s largest solid fuel consumers, such as Germany, the Netherlands, France and the United Kingdom, have significantly reduced Russian coal imports. In particular, the supply of coal from Russia to the Netherlands, which is the main trading center in the coal market of northwestern Europe, decreased by 22 % in 2020, and amounts to 10.4 million tons. Coal shipments from Russia to Germany fell by 37 %, to 5.7 million tons. US coal exports to the EU decreased by 9 % in 2020, to 6.6 million tons.
