KZHRK puts most of its employees on idle until April

Kryvyi Rih Iron Ore Plant (KZHRK) has put most of its employees on idle until April this year. Interfax-Ukraine reports this with reference to an order from the company’s chairman of the board.

The downtime was announced from March 8 to 31, 2025. Employees are offered to go on vacation.

According to employees and the independent trade union, the company is having problems with sales and electricity payments. The staff of KZHRK expressed concern about their work and salaries.

In December 2024, KZHRK appealed to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy to intervene in the critical situation related to the refund of value added tax (VAT) and problems with energy supply.

According to an open letter from the administration and trade unions, the state’s VAT refund debt to the company is over UAH 330 million. In addition, on November 29, 2024, the power distribution company disconnected KZHRK from electricity supply due to accumulated debts.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in 2023, KZHRK reduced its production of commercial underground iron ore by 24.4% compared to 2022, to 2.18 million tons. The company’s production plan for the year was fulfilled by 94.9%. No information on production in 2024 was disclosed.

KZHRK is the largest sinter ore producer in Ukraine. Most of its products are exported to Eastern Europe. The company’s structure includes 4 mines. Its balance sheet reserves amount to 210 million tons of rich iron ore with an average iron content of 58.6%.