Let us remind you that according to the law prepared by the Ministry of State Assets, local governments will be able to sell coal to residents at a price of no more than 2,000 PLN. Polish zlotys per ton.
Coal prices
Meanwhile, according to the Industrial Development Agency, in October the international coal market entered the so-called adjustments stage.
– Coal prices decline in global markets. The ARA was still at $390 in June, and today it is at $190. If the government had not intervened in the free market and allowed it to function normally, we would probably have coal on the market today at a total price of PLN 2,000 or less. The announcement of coal for 2000 PLN caused the market to stop for three weeks. This means that we have a lot of expensive coal purchases, mainly by importers, says Łukasz Horbacz, president of the Polish Coal Chamber of Commerce, in an interview with money.pl.
In turn, Bernard Swoczyna, lead expert at Instrat, tells us that coal prices will depend on the weather, the situation in the economy and temporary events that are difficult to predict.
Was it a good idea, then, for the government to buy large quantities of coal at high prices at a time when prices were breaking records?
– When the government decided to buy, the situation was already precarious and it is difficult to criticize this decision, even if the circumstances are different today. Currently, the lower prices are also due to the exceptionally hot weather in October. One might have doubts about the way coal is procured and distributed in the country – Swoczyna comments.
Free market
Recently, the head of the Ministry of Climate and Environment pointed out in an interview with Polsat News that the idea of \u200b\u200bcoal for less than a thousand zlotys did not work because “The machine was not very popularThe government blamed private entities that decided not to accept the subsidy and then distributed the coal at a low price.
According to Łukasz Horbacz, the idea of introducing coal for PLN 2,000 would have an effect similar to the previous one.
– Because of the government’s actions, nobody buys coal, I mean middlemen and trading companies. This is because customers do not want to buy. It may soon turn out that the price of PLN 2000 is higher than the market rate. This is what happens when the visible hand of government wants to wrestle with the invisible hand of the market, assesses Lukas Hubach.
We ask Bernard Swoczyna of the Instrat Foundation if, in this case, allowing the market to operate on its own terms would contribute to cheaper fuel for Poles.
– At the moment, coal prices for homes (not coal for power plants) are still very high, and it will not be possible to buy it cheaper on the open market. It is difficult to predict what will happen at the end of winter. If it turns out to be very mild, then theoretically it is possible, but let’s remember that after the ban on Russian coal, a huge hole was created in the market – says Bernard Suchina.
The rest of the article is under the video
See also: “There will be enough coal in Poland for 200 years.” The former minister admits: These are my words. there is a “but”
Will there be enough coal for the winter?
According to recent statements by the Minister of Climate, the government appreciates this in Poland 600-700 thousand farms do not have coal for the winter. On the other hand, 60 percent of them announced that they would replace this fuel with wood. According to the Industrial Development Agency, concerns about meeting demand in the short term are less justified, even taking into account the winter season.
– The situation looks better than it was a few months ago, but it is still difficult to predict what will happen, because it depends on factors that are difficult to predict, such as crowding in ports, and of course also very strongly also on the weather. Remember that every home situation is different. There are lucky or thrifty people who have fuel for the whole winter, for example bought by the popular online store PGG, and there are also people who now have almost nothing and anxiously look at the coming cold days – assesses Bernard Suchina.
However, Łukasz Horbacz is far from optimistic forecasts, considering the purchases already made by the government.
– Coal warehouses are empty, we can see that the initial demand reported by local governments to the ministry is 2.5-3 million tons. coalThe imported ones have not been sifted yet because they are so soft that if they were sifted now they would start to crumble. In the ports there are about 4 million tons of “unsorted” materials that must be sorted and transported to warehouses and then to the smithy’s cellars. Of these four million tons, only one million tons of fuel coal will be planted. I think that in order to satisfy the first coal hunger, we need two to three months, and we are talking about the first harvest, – he sums up in an interview with money.pl.
We asked the Ministry of State Funds for a comment on the matter, and we did not receive a position until the time the article was published.
Weronika Szkwarek, journalist at money.pl
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