POLISH COAL TRADERS ARE PREPARING FOR NATIONWIDE PROTESTS

Private entrepreneurs in Poland, who own coal warehouses, faced the threat of bankruptcy. The shortage of coal in the country has led them to a state of complete despair. State-owned coal enterprises do not sell them coal at the price set by the government, and businessmen in response threaten to block roads leading to coal mines.

The reason for the shortage of black fuel in the country was the sanctions that the Polish authorities imposed against the Russian economy. The country imposed an embargo on coal supplies from Russia back in March. Since April 7, the same decision has been made by the leadership of the European Union.

Private traders who try to import coal for personal purposes illegally, the authorities threatened with penalties. As a result, instead of Russian coal, Polish state-owned enterprises began to order fuel in Latin America and Indonesia, where coal, as a rule, is of lower quality and more expensive.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced possible problems with coal in mid-July.

He called entrepreneurs selling fuel who do not have the "will to cooperate." The Polish law, which came into effect in July, assumed the establishment of preferential prices for the consumption of coal for domestic purposes. It was assumed that all those who sell fuel at the prices of 2021 (996 zlotys per ton of coal), the state will pay compensation. However, a large number of applicants were not found.

At the same time, large coal enterprises stopped selling raw materials to the majority of "private owners". The main buyers were only consumers who managed to place an order through the website, as well as several dozen representatives of the public sector who have concession agreements.

At the same time, the main coal companies, actually owned by the state, are busy searching for warehouses through which it would be possible to conduct "authorized" trade in "black gold". But private owners are in no hurry to conclude agreements that force them to pay a high price for them.

Therefore, industry experts predict bankruptcy for a significant part of local traders.

The owners of warehouses in the south of Poland, who recently gathered in Silesia for a meeting, discussed plans to organize mass strikes and protest actions. Previously, market participants drafted a letter addressed to Moravetsky. The head of government is asked to find a way to purchase coal from the state that will not allow the industry to finally go to the bottom.

Photo: Image by Freepik