ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih wants to return to pre-war investments of $500 million annually

After the war, ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih hopes to return to its pre-war investment plans of $500 million a year. The cumulative effect will increase the opportunities for Ukrainian business and help attract foreign investment to Ukraine.

This was stated by Mauro Longobardo, CEO of ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, in his speech at the Business Wisdom Summit 2025.

“Before the war, our company planned to invest about $500 million annually in production development, and we hope to return to this volume after the war. In addition, this will create opportunities not only for existing Ukrainian businesses, but also for attracting significant investments to Ukraine and increasing the overall level of economic development in the country,” Mauro Longobardo emphasized.

In his opinion, one of the main current challenges at the country level is the need to create a clear plan for sustainable integration into the EU.

“We need a very specific plan on how we will integrate into the European Union until the end of the war and after it. This transition in the coming years will be key to creating a sustainable economy of the future,” the top manager said in his speech.

According to him, ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih’s products are largely exported, so the price of its products is determined by the global market. Now the company’s operations are additionally heavily dependent on prices for electricity, gas, and coking coal. As their prices rise, the cost of production also increases, which leads to a loss of competitiveness and the ability to produce pre-war volumes of products without losses. At the same time, the company is limited in its ability to pass on the increased cost to end consumers due to the potential loss of competitiveness.

In such circumstances, the company is doing its best to maintain a certain volume of production with the help of the parent company.

“Since the beginning of the war, our parent company ArcelorMittal has allocated $1 billion to ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih to help us survive. For our part, we are making every effort. Now we are holding the line!” summarized Mauro Longobardo.

As GMK Center reported earlier, despite the difficulties, the company continues to develop. In early April, blast furnace No. 6, which was mothballed in the fall of 2024 due to the market crisis and high electricity tariffs, was restarted. The unit is currently reaching its planned capacity of 3.4 thousand tons of pig iron per day. ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih is also raising employee salaries by an average of 15% starting May 1, 2025.

In 2024, the company managed to increase production of all types of products compared to 2023. In particular, pig iron production increased by 42.7% y/y – to 2.17 million tons, and steel production increased by 69.9% y/y – to 1.65 million tons. Rolled steel output amounted to 1.53 million tons, up 72.1% y/y.

ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih is a full-cycle steel plant in Ukraine. Its production facilities are designed to produce over 6 million tons of steel, 5 million tons of rolled products and 5.5 million tons of pig iron annually. The company employs over 20 thousand people.