This paper provides a market analysis of steam coal purchases and supplies from Russia and Kazakhstan to Poland in the years 2009–2011. The analysis compares imports (into Poland) of steam coal with offers from Poland’s main, domestic hard coal producers, e.g. Kompania Weglowa SA, Katowicki Holding Weglowy SA, and Lubelski Wegiel Bogdanka SA. The comparison takes into account the following hard coal sizes: coal fines, coarse, and middle grades. In the years 2009–2011, imported hard coal prices were lower than domestic prices (coal fines by as much as 5 PLN/GJ, and coarse and middle grades by as much as 9 PLN/GJ). Among the steam coal importers, two categories are specified. One is the commercial companies representing hard coal producers from CIS countries (from Russia – SUEK and KTK, from Kazakhstan – Shubarkol Komir). The other is the Polish companies involved in foreign trade (e.g. Weglokoks SA) and the Polish companies which independently import more than 1 Mt of hard coal (e.g. Barter Co., Krex PLC and Energo PLC). The paper describes the differences between Polish rail tariffs and CIS countries’ rail tariffs. In the CIS countries, the costs of railway transport consist of two elements – first the rail freight tariffs, and second the cost of using rail cars. After the implementation of so called unified rail tariffs from 1 January 2013, the transportation costs of coal from Russia and Kazakhstan through the Polish/ /Belarusian frontier crossings could be 58–65 USD/ton of coal.