Finland Times

The consumption of hard coal has increased in the country by 37 per cent in the period from January to June this year compared to the corresponding period of the last year, according to preliminary data of the Statistics Finland.
Total consumption of hard coal as fuel in the generation of electricity and heat amounted to 2.7 million tonnes, corresponding to 67 petajoules in energy content during the period.
Use of hard coal increased in plants of separate production of electricity, where 708 thousand tonnes of hard coal was consumed, which was over four times more than a year earlier in 2012.
In January to June this year, the consumption of hard coal was 1.5 per cent up on average for the 2000s. At the end of June 2013, stocks of hard coal totalled some 3 million tonnes, which is 28 per cent less than a year earlier.
Separate production of condensate power increased by 81 per cent in the early part of the year. According to Finnish energy industries, net imports of electricity decreased by 19 per cent in the first half of the year. Net imports of electricity from the Nordic countries went down by 36 per cent and imports from Russia grew by five per cent in the first half of the year compared to one year earlier.