Poland to introduce coal excise duty

Thursday, 18 Aug 2011

The Polish government has confirmed that it will introduce an excise duty on thermal and coking coal next year.

Finance ministry said that coal producers will pay a duty of about PLZ 1.3 /1GJ from January 1, although the calorific value will determine the amount of tax to be paid.

Poland was previously exempt from the excise duty when it joined the EU in 2004. But the European Commission now wants to introduce new rules for taxing energy products. Coal used for energy production may be excluded from the excise duty, but the details have not been confirmed, according to proposed EU legislation.

It is still unclear whether the excise duty will affect export prices.

A broker said that “As far as we know, Polish coal prices will definitely increase as of January 2012. But it is difficult to speculate whether that will affect export prices.”

(By Argusmedia)