people point out to coal.

In 2022, EU coal production and consumption continued to increase, reaching 349 million tonnes (+5% compared with the previous year) and 454 million tonnes (+2%), respectively. This rebound started in 2021 and was mainly driven by lignite, a solid fossil fuel with low energy content belonging to the bigger category of brown coal.

 

bar chart: Production of hard and brown coal, 2022 (million tonnes, cumulated monthly data)

Source dataset: nrg_cb_sffm

The EU produced 294 million tonnes of brown coal in 2022 (up 6% from 2021). Despite the recent rebound, the production stayed below the pre-pandemic 2019 figures. Today, brown coal is produced by 9 EU members, with Germany taking the lead as the main producer. Last year, Germany (131 million tonnes) accounted for about 44% of the total EU brown coal production. The other Member States producing brown coal are Poland (19%), Bulgaria (12%), Czechia (11%), Romania, Greece, Hungary, Slovenia and Slovakia. 

Consumption figures for lignite and brown coal are very similar to production, as these coal types are usually not traded but are used domestically to produce electricity. While lignite is rarely the main fuel for electricity production in EU countries, it is in several Western Balkan countries. Nevertheless, in recent years, the share of lignite in electricity production decreased also in the Western Balkans with hydro and natural gas on the rise.

Stacked chart: inland consumption of hard coal, 2017-2022 (million tonnes, cumulated monthly data)

Source dataset: nrg_cb_sff and nrg_cb_sffm

Hard coal trends remain stable in 2022

For hard coal, a category of coal with higher energy content, production in the EU reached almost 55 million tonnes in 2022. At present, there are only two producers of hard coal remaining in the EU: Poland and Czechia. 

Consumption of hard coal in 2022 reached 160 million tonnes, 11% less than in 2019. Unlike brown coal, hard coal is used in other industries besides power production and is therefore traded and consumed by all EU countries except Malta. Poland (38%) and Germany (25%) accounted for almost two-thirds of the total hard coal consumption of the EU in 2022, followed by Italy, the Netherlands, France, Spain, and Czechia.