In the second half of each month, we publish a set of key statistics on coal mining in Poland on our blog. The data is published with a 1.5-month delay, following announcements by the Energy Market Agency and the Industrial Development Agency, Katowice Branch.
To begin with, let’s take a look at how much electricity was produced from hard coal and other fuels over the month. Supplying a substantial part of the demand is coal’s fundamental, though not the only role.
Following a record-breaking June for renewable energy sources, less favourable weather in July decreased energy production from both solar and wind sources while increasing the demand on conventional power plants. PV accounted for 19.3% of the mix, and wind power for 10.5%. In total, clean sources (including hydroelectric power plants) supplied nearly 31% of total electricity production, which is the fourth-highest result in history. Hard coal-fired power plants recorded an increase in generation to 6.8 TWh, which translates to approximately a 50% share in the electricity mix. Lignite-fired power plants benefited particularly, generating as much as 1/3 more electricity than in June. Gas-fired power plants produced a relatively large amount of electricity – 1.8 TWh, or precisely 13% of the total mix. This was due to a 40% increase in installed capacity over the last 12 months and lower production from renewable energy sources in July.
More data is available on the chart “Electricity production, source: ARE”
Hard coal in Poland - July 2025
Below, we analyse the monthly data from the hard coal sector. The comments refer to the charts constantly available on energy.instrat.pl in the Mining section.
Symbols mean:
↗ a rise
↘ a decrease
= marginal or no difference in comparison to the previous month
Production and sales of hard coal​
COAL PRODUCTION – 3.56 Mt ↗
COAL SALES – 3.18 Mt ↗
Coal production in July increased by as much as 15% compared to June, which is the most significant monthly increase this year. However, compared to July 2024, it decreased by 2%. Sales, on the other hand, increased by 4% compared to the previous month, which is 3% lower than the same period last year.
Hard coal reserves
TOTAL – 11.41 Mt ↗
RESERVES AT MINING SITES (mining) – 5.65 Mt ↗
RESERVES AT MINING SITES, PURCHASED (by the power industry) – 0.28 Mt ↘
RESERVES AT POWER PLANTS (power industry) – 5.5 Mt ↗
For the first time since December of last year, coal reserves have increased by 9%, marking the most significant monthly rise since the beginning of 2023. Following a decline last month, reserves at power plants have again exceeded 5 million tonnes, and the amount of coal stored at mining sites has been steadily increasing for several months.
Employment
72 010 persons ↘
Employment in mining continues to decline, with more than 500 jobs less than in June. Compared to July last year, the number of FTEs has fallen by more than 3 000. Such a comparable annual decline last occurred between September 2022 and 2021.
Hard coal price for electricity generation (PSCMI1)
PSCMI 1 – 336 PLN/t ↘ – 15.59 PLN/GJ ↘
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The price of coal for the electricity sector continues its downward trend: down 4% from the previous month and 30% compared to July last year, reaching its lowest level since May 2022.
Hard coal price for heating (PSCMI 2)
PSCMI 2 – 431 PLN/t ↘ – 18.79 PLN/GJ ↘
The price of coal for heating is gradually falling, down 7% since last month and 23% compared to July of last year.
Price of domestic (PSCMI 1) vs imported (ARA) hard coal
PSCMI 1 – 15.59 PLN/GJ ↘
Import (ARA) – 16.07 PLN/GJ ↘
The reference price, which reflects the price of imported coal and serves as a benchmark for mining subsidies, fell by nearly 2.50 PLN per gigajoule in July. Domestic coal prices are also falling (as mentioned above). Meanwhile, unit production costs in the second quarter of 2025 rose dramatically, exceeding 1000 PLN/tce. However, this does not mean a corresponding increase in actual production costs (although these remain among the highest in the world). The increase in unit costs (i.e. costs per tonne mined) is due to declining production at comparable costs. However, this is an increasingly clear signal of how uneconomical the current cost and revenue structure in mining is. In turn, prices of imported coal in the second quarter turned out to be lower than in the first quarter, and compared to June 2024, they fell by nearly 19% (year-on-year). Despite this, they remain above the price of domestic PSCMI 1 coal.
We compare the prices of energy coal (PSCMI 1) with imported energy coal in a unit that takes into account quality differences [PLN/GJ]. Coal for heating (PSCMI 2) is filtered out by default.
More data is available in the section “Coal prices and production costs (PL vs import)”
That is all in the current issue. We thank you for reading our Coal Brief and invite you to share it.
More information
If you are looking for more information about mining, check out our database: Coal mines in Poland. It contains, among others, a complete list of active deposits, annual statistics of mines and the current closure dates. We invite you to take a look at it!Â
Contact
Wojciech Przedlacki, Product Owner energy.instrat.pl, [email protected]
