The average customs price of natural gas imported by Ukraine in July 2013 came to $406.56 per 1,000 cubic meters, which is 0.3% lower than in June ($407.87 per 1,000 cubic meters), reads a posting on the Web site of the Economic Development and Trade Ministry of Ukraine.

The indicator is used as the actual price of gas extracted in Ukraine when the fee for deposit use is calculated.

As reported, Ukraine from November 2012 began importing natural gas from Germany through Poland under agreements with RWE Supply & Trading GmbH (Germany).

According to public joint-stock company Ukrtransgaz, in January-June 2013 Ukraine imported about 10.9 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia and Europe. In particular, the import of natural gas from Russia fell by 35.2%, or 5.6 billion cubic meters of gas, year-over-year, to 10.3 billion cubic meters of gas, while imports from Europe totaled 630 million cubic meters of natural gas.

Under the balance for the receipt and transportation of natural gas for 2013 approved by the government, Ukraine will import 27.3 billion cubic meters in 2013, including 18 billion cubic meters from Russia's Gazprom, eight billion cubic meters from Dmytro Firtash's Cyprus-registered OstChem and 1.3 billion cubic meters from Germany's RWE Supply & Trading GmbH.

The parliament in July 2012 passed a law according to which the Economic Development and Trade Ministry from the beginning of 2013 should monthly, prior to the 10th day, publish the average customs value of imported gas for the previous period.