The Ukrainian steel industry is going through very difficult times, and the likelihood that the sector will survive to participate in post-war reconstruction is low—not only because of the war, but also due to restrictions imposed by the European Union, said Oleksandr Vodoviz, head of the office of the CEO of the Metinvest Group, according to a correspondent for Interfax-Ukraine.
“In the steel industry, half of the companies have gone bankrupt. And not because of the war… Is the steel industry ready to ensure recovery? Let’s hope we live to see that recovery, because the way things are going, we won’t make it. We need to take a sober look at the truth: the plants have been bombed; we’re not talking about millions of dollars in losses, but billions,” he said at the fourth “Economic Truth” export forum in Kyiv this week.
In addition to the need to rebuild metallurgical plants after the war, Vodoviz also highlighted a staffing problem that was already acute before the war, when European companies were poaching Ukrainian workers. According to him, despite the losses, Metinvest is currently retaining its staff, but this remains a pressing issue.
“Will we be able to ensure recovery? If we rebuild the plants and find the people,” he noted.
Vodoviz also stated that one of the main issues for the Ukrainian metallurgical industry right now is to secure the same level of export quotas to the EU as existed in 2025, at the very least.
According to him, Ukraine’s metallurgical sector does not question the strategic goal of integrating into the EU’s internal market, but recent actions by Brussels—the introduction of the CBAM carbon tax and restricted quotas, which, despite promises, in no way take into account the fact of the war in Ukraine and the losses incurred by the Ukrainian industry—cast doubt on the mutual progress toward this goal.
A Metinvest representative clarified that the quotas currently amount to 40% of last year’s exports.
“Our number one problem is, of course, the strikes on steel mills; all our steel enterprises have been destroyed, are in ruins, and are not operating. Four days ago, Zaporizhstal was struck again—seven missiles. And in this situation, we are trying to explain to the Europeans that they should grant us quota reductions,” Vodoviz described the situation.
As previously reported, “Ukrmetallurgprom” criticized the EU’s decision to restrict imports of Ukrainian steel products, which had been supplied to Europe duty-free for the first three years following Russia’s full-scale aggression. The association believes that Ukraine currently poses no threat to European producers because, due to the war, steel production in the country initially fell from 40 million metric tons to 7.5 million metric tons, and now almost all steel plants have been shut down due to shelling.
