Posted on 04 Jul 2023
Metinvest’s Zaporizhstal and Kametstal plants are setting up production of beams and thick plate in order to restore the supply of these steel products. The group’s production of these products was lost due to the occupation of its Mariupol plants by Russia, Kallanish notes.
"We have quick plans for new products in Zaporizhstal and Kametstal. We are looking at how we can produce a beam with the existing equipment in Kamiansk, so that in the future it can be used for building structures or bridges,” Metinvest general director Yuriy Ryzhenkov said on YouTube for FAQTalks with Oleg Davydenko, the firm’s director of corporate communications. “We are also studying how to make thick plate in Zaporizhzhia. We have already produced a trial batch of thick plate, shipped it to buyers, and we have feedback.”
Restoring production of steel products in Ukraine will be a task for the company for the next 3-5 years, Ryzhenkov added.
According to him, Metinvest will also work on improving the quality of products produced by its mining and beneficiation plants in Kryvyi Rih. "We have been working for a long time to produce higher-quality products with a higher iron content. This is very important for green metallurgy, which is developing in the world and in the EU; we can thus produce semi-finished products for green metallurgy and this is quite important," he noted.
The Metinvest Group is also investing in the development of projects and modernising production facilities for the gradual transition to the production of iron ore products using direct reduced iron (DRI) technology.
According to him, the metallurgical enterprises of Metinvest in Ukraine are currently 60-70% utilised, while the mining and processing plants are at 35-40%. The group's foreign enterprises are 100% utilised but, at the same time, the company's Ukrainian assets generate most of the financial results. “This [domestic revenue generation] is less than it was two years ago, but the lion's share of profit is generated in Ukraine,” Ryzhenkov concluded.
Source:Kallanish
