PJSC Centrenergo has signed a contract with XCOAL Energy & Resources (the United States) to supply about 700,000 tonnes of anthracite coal by the end of 2017, head of the company Oleh Kozemko has said.

"We signed a contract on July 14, expect about 700,000 tonnes by the end of the year," he said at a briefing at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine in Kyiv.

According to a report by Channel Five from the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, the first batch of U.S. anthracite in the amount of 85,000 tonnes will be delivered in early September, the second one of 125,000 tonnes will arrive in late September.

The price of the first batch will be $113 per tonne, but it is not fixed and in future could vary, in particular downwards.

According to Kozemko, in 2018 the volume of American anthracite supplies could reach 2 million tonnes.