EU should close loopholes for import of semi-finished products from Russia as soon as possible – Ryzhenkov

The European Union should close all loopholes for the import of Russian semi-finished steel products as soon as possible. This opinion was expressed by Yuriy Ryzhenkov, CEO of Metinvest Group, at the Siderweb 2024 forum held on September 26 in Vicenza, Italy.

He emphasized that the Russian Federation always uses its resources to control, attack, and make people dependent on its will. Ukraine has experienced this over the past 30 years. The Russians have also blackmailed Europe in various ways using gas supplies.

“Now there is nothing stopping Russia from using semi-finished products as a weapon if it realizes that Europe is dependent on these Russian goods. This is one of the reasons why Europe should try to minimize imports as much as possible,” Ryzhenkov added.

Another good reason to refuse from Russian semi-finished products is the financing of military aggression through the purchase of such products.

“Every time you buy Russian slabs, pig iron or hot briquetted iron, you are financing the war against Ukraine. In fact, every euro you pay for it goes to kill another Ukrainian,” emphasized the CEO of Metinvest.

The third reason for minimizing imports from Russia is the subsidization of imports of semi-finished products by Russian energy companies, which sell gas to steelmakers domestically at a lower price than in Europe.

“So it’s a highly subsidized product. You are killing European civilians,” he added.

The CEO emphasized that Metinvest does not buy Russian slabs for its European rolling mills.

“Ilva supplied most of the slabs to our Italian mills. In this way, we are helping the Italian economy to revive one of its largest steel assets, which is currently in a difficult situation. And if all other producers did the same, it might be much easier to build a new steel industry in Italy,” summarized Yuriy Ryzhenkov.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in January-July 2024, the European Union imported 3.36 million tons of steelmaking raw materials from Russia. The cost of imports of these products amounted to €1.62 billion. Semi-finished products accounted for the largest volume of imports – 1.93 million tons worth €996.96 million.

In 2023, the EU imported 3.11 million tons of Russian-made semi-finished steel products.