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 course of the month. Supplying a substantial part of the demand is coal’s fundamental, though not the only role.
In March, almost 17 TWh was fed into the national power system, of which 70% was generated by CO2-intensive technologies.
Hard coal and lignite units contributed approximately 6 TWh and 3 TWh, respectively. Together, their share of the national electricity mix amounted to just over 50%.
Wind turbines generated slightly less than lignite — almost 2.7 TWh, accounting for 16% of Poland’s total electricity production. Together with photovoltaics (2 TWh) and other clean sources, they produced 30% of March’s electricity. For both sources (wind and solar), these are record shares for this month.
In the ranking of the largest electricity producers, gas units placed between wind turbines and solar power plants. They contributed just over 2 TWh, representing 13% of the mix — though this is 5 percentage points less than in February.
More data is available on the chart Electricity production, source: ARE and Electricity generation capacity, source: ARE. A new feature is the inclusion of battery energy storage systems in the second chart (currently at quarterly resolution), along with a visual separation of energy storage technologies from sources that generate their own electricity.
Hard coal in Poland - March 2026
Production and sales of hard coal​
COAL PRODUCTION – 3.78 Mt ↗
COAL SALES – 3.97 Mt ↗
In March, both hard coal production and sales increased. Production was 8% higher than in February (almost 300 000 tonnes) and 5% higher year on year. Sales, meanwhile, rose by 5% month on month and by as much as 17% (almost half a million tonnes) compared to March 2025.
Hard coal reserves
TOTAL – 8.91 Mt ↘
RESERVES AT MINING SITES (mining) – 3.67 Mt ↘
RESERVES AT MINING SITES, PURCHASED (by the power industry) – 0.34 Mt ↘
RESERVES AT POWER PLANTS (power industry) – 4.90 Mt ↘
Total reserves fell below 9 million tonnes — the lowest level since 2022. All categories of reserves included in our Brief declined at the end of the heating season.
Employment in hard coal mining
69 696 persons ↘
Employment dropped below the historic threshold of 70 000 people, as we reported at the beginning of May. The monthly decrease of over 1 000 jobs is, in turn, the largest in exactly 4 years.
State-owned mining companies are already offering interested employees protection programmes in line with the amended Act on the Functioning of Hard Coal Mining in Poland. This will cause the pace of employment reduction to accelerate significantly. In PGG alone, the workforce reduction this year is expected to reach approximately 5 000 people, who will take advantage of protection packages or retire.
Hard coal price for electricity generation (PSCMI1)
PSCMI 1 – 294 PLN/t ↘ – 13.63 PLN/GJ ↘
The price of coal for the power sector fell below 300 PLN/t (and below 14 PLN/GJ) for the first time in 4 years. Coal has thus returned to the price levels regularly seen before the energy crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Hard coal price for heating (PSCMI 2)
PSCMI 2 – 392 PLN/t ↘ – 16.99 PLN/GJ ↘
The last time the price of coal for the district heating sector fell below 17 PLN/GJ was in March 2022 as well.
Price of domestic vs imported hard coal
PSCMI 1 – 13.63 PLN/GJ ↘
Import (ARA) – 16.43 PLN/GJ ↗
Domestic coal (PSCMI 1) was at its cheapest in 4 years in March, as noted above. Meanwhile, imported coal from ARA ports rose by approximately 0.5 PLN/GJ, reaching 16.43 PLN/GJ in March. The gap between domestic and imported coal prices is the widest in six months.
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 recently updated 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]
