Maciej Kulczyński/PAP

Poland may face coal shortages despite plans to increase extraction by domestic mines, Mateusz Morawiecki, the prime minister, has said.

The prime minister, who on Monday went to Poland’s coal-mining Silesia region for talks with CEOs of state-owned mining and energy companies, said that “today we face a chronic shortage of coal.”

“Despite the fact that Polish mines have been increasing extraction, here in Silesia in particular but also by the Bogdanka (mine – PAP) in the Lublin region, there may be too little of this coal,” Morawiecki said.

“That’s why I ordered state-owned companies, Weglokoks, PGE Paliwa as well as the deputy prime minister (Jacek Sasin, serving also as state assets minister – PAP) to purchase coal,” Morawiecki continued.

“They have specialists, traders who deal with buying and selling coal, they have contractors all over the world,” the prime minister said.

Morawiecki also said he had ordered “the purchase of 4.5 million tonnes of coal by October, November,” referring to coal that households need for the winter season.

“This additional purchase should compensate for this second deficit that we have on our market, which is the shortage of the commodity,” he said.

The prime minister admitted that Poland’s embargo on Russian coal after Russia invaded Ukraine was a reason for current shortages.