ArcelorMittal Krivoy Rog PJSC (AMKR) Krivoy Rog Mining and Metallurgical Plant is hoping for an improvement in the power supply situation in the first half of this year and an increase in production from the current 25% to 50% of the plant’s capacity, the plant’s CEO Mauro Longobardo said.
“We can’t produce more than 25 percent because we don’t have enough energy. Once we have stable energy, we can increase production … and get to 50%,” he said on the sidelines of a business forum on the rapid recovery of Ukraine in Luxembourg, organized by the Ukrainian-Luxembourg Business Club.
Longobardo clarified that the company is currently operating at 25 percent for both ore and steel production, and consumes about 125 MW, compared to the pre-war normal consumption of about 450 MW.
The CEO also added that AMKR started importing electricity after the government’s recent decision and is now happy with the result, although the price of imports adds to the negative impact on the cost of production.
According to him, despite the low utilization rate, the entire team of 26,000 employees is retained, of which about 10,000 to 12,000 are employed in production depending on the day, but assistance is also provided to others. “We are investing in keeping all of our people during this year,” the general manager said.
He said that with an adequate power supply, a further 50 percent capacity limitation is already due to logistical problems. As Longobardo pointed out, AMKR is actively developing new routes alternative to the pre-war sea routes, but tentatively the new destinations to Poland and southern Ukraine will only allow for 50 percent production.
“We just need to test them when we have 50 percent available,” the general manager added.
According to him, without the resumption of work of the main ports of Ukraine, the combine will not be able to export products or provide imports of coal. Longobardo clarified that now AMKR works entirely on Ukrainian coal, as the work of the route of traditional coal imports from Kazakhstan from another “subsidiary” ArcelorMittal is currently interrupted.
At the same time, he stressed that there are other obstacles on the way to increasing production to 50%. First, Longobardo explained, the power supply must be reliable, since the plant has three blast furnaces, of which one is still operating. Going to 50% would mean working with two blast furnaces, since the third one is the largest, and a sudden stoppage of the furnace in case of power supply problems is fraught with damage.
The second major problem the general manager cited was rising production costs and logistics. “Cost is already killed. When I tell you logistics are possible, it’s true. But it’s $100 per ton more expensive than what I was paying before,” Longobardo noted.
He clarified that previously the transport shoulder to the port of Nikolaev was 250 km, there were also river deliveries, whereas now it is 1500 km to Gdansk and more costs for transshipment due to the different gauge in Ukraine and Europe.
“ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih is the largest producer of rolled steel in Ukraine. It specializes in the production of long products, particularly rebar and wire rod.
As previously reported, in 2022, the plant reduced the output of rolled steel by 77% compared with the previous year – up to 1.1 million tons, steel – by 76.3% to 1.2 million tons, iron – by 71% to 1.6 million tons.
Iron ore production fell last year by 56%, to 11.6 million tons, and concentrate production fell by 57.2%, to 4.2 million tons.
