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.
Last month, we updated our coal mines database for the second time this year. Visit the database’s page to learn about lignite extraction or find detailed information on coal deposits and read the article on our blog for more details!
Additional chart: In this edition of the Brief, we discuss an additional chart showing the latest coal production costs – you will find it at the end of the post.
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.
The closer we get to winter, the greater the share of hard coal in electricity production – in October, it accounted for 5 TWh of electricity generated (an increase of 1/4 from the previous month), which translated into a nearly 35% share in the mix. However, this is around 200 GWh less than at the same time last year. This decline was primarily offset by an increase in gas production, which, albeit gradually, is taking over, together with RES, an increasing share of the generation previously reserved for coal. Gas units supplied the most electricity to the grid since January, with their share of the mix exactly 15%. This is the second-highest result in history, after November 2024.
The expected seasonal shift was also visible in renewable energy sources. A significant drop in PV production – by around 1 TWh, or nearly 50% compared to September – was almost entirely offset by wind energy. As a result, wind ranked second in the electricity mix, trailing hard coal. It is also worth noting that, for the third time, wind power plants generated more electricity than lignite-fired units on a monthly basis.
More data is available on the chart Electricity production, source: ARE.
Hard coal in Poland - October 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​
Another month in a row with significant increases in coal production and sales. Since August, both figures have risen by almost 50%, reaching their highest levels since 2022 (over 4.5 million tonnes). An important context for these data is also the decline in coal prices for the electricity sector (PSCMI 1), discussed below.
Throughout the year, production is more strongly correlated with sales than in previous years. This means high fluctuations in efficiency, as it is not reasonable to put surpluses into the already high reserves, while the demand falls each year. As we will see in the additional chart at the end of the Brief, costs per production are rising sharply in most companies.
Hard coal reserves
TOTAL – 12.35 Mt ↗
RESERVES AT MINING SITES (mining) – 5.24 Mt ↘
RESERVES AT MINING SITES, PURCHASED (by the power industry) – 0.31 Mt =
RESERVES AT POWER PLANTS (power industry) – 6.79 Mt ↗
Coal reserves continue to grow as the heating season gathers pace. The trend from September continues – reserves at power plants are increasing, while those at mining sites are decreasing, and those awaiting transport remain unchanged. However, their total is still about one million tonnes lower than in the same period last year.
Employment
71 519 persons ↘
The downward trend in employment continues. It is not as sharp as it was at the beginning of the year, but over 3 000 FTEs are still being lost every month.
Hard coal price for electricity generation (PSCMI1)
PSCMI 1 – 305 PLN/t ↘ 14.25 PLN/GJ ↘
The price of coal for the electricity sector has fallen significantly, by around 8% compared to September and by 35% year-on-year. We’ve not seen a sale like this since January. Looking at absolute values, the last time coal for power plants was this cheap was at the beginning of 2022. However, this means selling well below the cost of extraction – we’re talking about a difference in the range of 400 PLN per tonne.
Hard coal price for heating (PSCMI 2)
PSCMI 2 – 431 PLN/t ↘ – 18.69 PLN/GJ ↘
Hard coal for heating also recorded a month-on-month price decrease of around 4%, although this was less pronounced than in previous periods. While prices were even lower in July this year, they are still more than 20% below last year’s levels.
Production costs in largest mining companies
PKW – 1043 PLN/tce ↗
JSW – 1043 PLN/tce ↗
PGG – 965 PLN/tce ↗
LW Bogdanka – 605 PLN/tce ↘
Average – 945 PLN/tce ↗
The chart showing coal production costs broken down by company, which we presented in July’s set of coal charts on our platform, has been updated with 2024 data. As shown below, only LW Bogdanka remains below the average cost reported by ARP, extracting hard coal at approximately 40% lower cost than its competitors.
At the other largest mining companies, costs have risen, exceeding 1 000 PLN/tce for PKW and JSW (JSW also extracts coking coal). Meanwhile, sales prices remain significantly lower, which once again raises questions about dumping strategies and measures to improve the efficiency of the least efficient entities in the presence of state subsidies for hard coal extraction.
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]
