The Cabinet’s April 16 resolution on increasing prices for electricity and gas is aimed at scrapping state regulation over the prices for coal.
Currently coal, which is sold under direct contracts to the public, budget-financed organizations and thermal power plants, is added to the list of socially important goods, and its price is regulated by the state.
Coal’s wholesale and retail prices are reviewed and approved by the Interdepartmental Commission on Prices under the Cabinet of Ministers at least once a year (before June 1).
The Ministry of Energy, together with other departments, has been instructed to make proposals within a month on the formation of wholesale and retail prices “based on market principles.”
In 2023, coal production in the country surpassed the previous year by 15.5%, the volume increased to 6.19 million tons. While, imports of coal, coke and briquettes also increased - up to $204.4 million (+67.8%).
Coal supplies from Kazakhstan increased by 1.4 million tons to 3.1 million (+82.3%). Coal imports from Kyrgyzstan doubled over the 10 months of last year – to almost 900 thousand tons.
