Metinvest is studying the resumption of beam and thick plate production

Metinvest Group is working on the restoration of beam and thick sheet production at the Zaporizhzhia and Kamianske steel mills. The CEO of the company Yuriy Ryzhenkov told about it in an interview for FAQTalks with the company’s director of corporate communications Oleg Davydenko.

According to Yuriy Ryzhenkov, the company has quick plans for new products at Zaporizhstal and Kametstal.

«Currently, we are studying the possibility of how to produce a beam using the existing equipment in Kamianske or by restoring it a little, and then use it for the construction of buildings or bridges,» he said.

The company is also studying how to produce a thick sheet in Zaporizhzhia on the existing equipment – ​​a trial batch has already been produced and shipped to customers, feedback has been received.

«There are such urgent things that we want to do at the moment in order to resume the supply from our other enterprises of those products, the production of which we lost with the occupation of Mariupol,» the CEO of the company noted.

As for the prospects for the next 3-5 years, according to Ryzhenkov, the task of the group will be to restore the potential of steel production in Ukraine. Currently, these plans are mainly focused on the company’s enterprises in Zaporizhzhia and Kamianske.

Yuriy Ryzhenkov noted that despite the war, the company’s strategic program for the development of Mining has hardly changed. From the beginning, it was based on improving the quality of products, increasing the iron content, which is important for green steel industry, which is developing in the world and Europe.

The CEO of Metinvest also said that the company cannot currently make significant investments in Ukraine, but it can develop project documentation, technological chains, etc.

As GMK Center reported earlier, Metinvest in the first quarter of 2023, steel production decreased by 75% compared to the same period in 2022 – to 491,000 tons. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, the indicator increased by 96%. The output of steel products (semi-finished products and finished products) in this period decreased by 58% year-on-year, but increased by 46% q/q – up to 829 million tons.

Also, Metinvest, despite the full-scale war, is able to work with creditors and investors, as well as make some local investments. Currently, the steel enterprises of the group in Ukraine are loaded by 60-70%, Minings – by 35-40%.