Energy minister Dorin Junghietu said on Wednesday 21 October 2026, after the cabinet sitting, that the Republic of Moldova imported about 77,000 tonnes of coal from 1 January to 18 October, roughly 19 percent less than in the same period of 2025. Those are import statistics, not a winter crisis proclaimed by the ministry.

Junghietu confirmed a sharp drop in the last three months: about 4,700 tonnes in July, 1,500 in August and 120–130 in September. Headlines that speak of a fall “more than 36 times in two months” describe the July-to-September ratio, not the 19 percent decline over 1 January–18 October.

The coal market in Moldova is not regulated, the minister said. Importers bring cargo according to demand. Some of the coal arrives by rail or barge, through Danube and Black Sea ports.

Among possible factors, not legal certainties, Junghietu listed attacks and war affecting Black Sea traffic, and the European summer hydrological drought that led some states to restart coal-fired capacity. He added that anthracite deliveries from Ukraine have fallen because deposits in Donbas are in war zones.

Of the roughly 77,000 tonnes, about 63,000 are anthracite. Radio Chișinău takes those figures from the minister. Volumes imported this year, he said, have already been sold on the market.

Some traders have reported empty yards but are waiting for a shipment from Australia due into the port of Constanța. Prices, Junghietu said, will follow the market, as with gas. He did not announce a cap and did not say households are left without fuel by a state decision.

We do not mix these figures with a diesel price rise, with maize, or with a Kyiv visit about gas. Wednesday’s subject is coal imports and the minister’s explanation.

The closed fact remains: 77,000 tonnes to 18 October, down about 19 percent on 2025, with a monthly collapse in July–September, and an unregulated market, not an officially proclaimed crisis.

Image: Petteri Sulonen, coal heaps at Hanasaari, Helsinki, 11 October 2010, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons; archive, not coal yards in Moldova in 2026.

Sources consulted: Importurile de carbune ale R. Moldova au scazut cu aproximativ 19% de la inceputul anului. Dorin Junghietu explica motivele - Radio Chisinau; Criza de carbune in Moldova inainte de iarna? Importurile au scazut de peste 36 de ori in doua luni: explicatiile autoritatilor - TV8.