it buys coal from mining companies and then sells it at the regulated price negotiated with four different ministries the price levels set in this negotiating process have been typically below the average production costs of stateowned companies and as a result most companies have been confronted with a serious deterioration of their financial condition leading to payment arrears and recurrent demands for ever higher subsidies in some attempts to liberalise the price policy in the coal sector were undertaken notably based on auctions for coking coal