Ukraine's state-owned energy company, Naftogaz, hiked its natural gas price for industrial consumers by 5% month-on-month in September 2018, to around US$11.61/million Btu.
Naftogaz's proposed September price increase was higher than expected based on recent years and marks a continued rise through the year. CRU has raised the forecast for Ukraine's industrial gas price to US$10.43/million Btu in 2018, up 17% year-on-year. Between January and September 2018, the price was 20% higher than in the same period a year ago.
At such prices, costs to industrial consumers would be higher over the year than previously forecast, and the difference is likely to be significant, despite some fertilizer producers receiving a discount on these gas prices.