ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih Iron and Steel Works of Kryvyi Rih (AMKR, Dnipro region) intends to increase capacity utilization from 30% to 50% in 2024.
“In 2024, we plan to increase production and increase production capacity by operating two blast furnaces. Thus, the utilization of our production facilities will increase from 30 to 50 percent,” said Mauro Longobardo, CEO of AMKR, receiving a delegation from the German Embassy led by Ambassador Martin Eger at the plant.
The visit program included discussions with the plant’s management on the current state of the enterprise and its development prospects, as well as a visit to blast furnace production.
According to Longobardo, the plant is ready to increase production as soon as possible and support Ukraine in its post-war recovery. To this end, the company has retained its staff, avoided layoffs, and all production equipment is in working order despite power outages and even rocket attacks.
“We are also steadily pursuing the path of transformation into a company that consistently reduces its environmental impact. Several steps in this direction have already been taken, such as the closure of outdated facilities: coke oven batteries No. 1-2, a sinter plant for metallurgical production, as well as the commissioning of such modern production facilities as coke oven batteries No. 5-6,” the CEO said, as quoted by the press service.
In turn, Yeher, discussing Ukraine’s postwar recovery, noted that “when the time comes for postwar reconstruction, it is important not to return the facility to its prewar state but to bring it to a modern level.”
“We have to rebuild the best. Especially since Ukraine will be a member of the European Union. I am confident that all this can be achieved, and ArcelorMittal will play an important and demonstrative role in this process,” the German ambassador summarized.
“ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih is the largest rolled steel producer in Ukraine. It specializes in long products, including rebar and wire rod.
ArcelorMittal owns the largest mining and metallurgical plant in Ukraine, ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, and a number of small companies, including ArcelorMittal Berislav.
Mittal Steel Corporation acquired a 93.02% stake in Kryvorizhstal in an open tender on October 24, 2005 for UAH 24.2 billion at a starting price of UAH 10 billion, after which the plant was renamed Mittal Steel Kryvyi Rih and later ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih.
Arcelor Mittal Duisburg GmbH (Germany) owns 95.1283% of AMKR shares.
The authorized capital of the plant is UAH 3 billion 859.533 million.
PJSC ArcelorMittal Krivoy Rog (Dnipropetrovsk Region) ended 2022 with a net loss of UAH 49 billion 9.104 million, while in 2021 it posted a net profit of UAH 25 billion 282.951mn.
According to the official information of the company, the net loss per share reached 12.7 UAH. At that, based on the results of the last year AMKR assets amounted to 52 billion 682.761 million UAH, shareholders’ equity – 28 billion 212.939 million UAH, and long-term liabilities – 6 billion 46.354 million UAH.
Commenting on the results of activities in 2022, Mauro Longobardo, the general director of AMKR, stated that the main conclusion that can be made now is that the enterprise has survived and has not stopped working in spite of the full-scale war.
“The question of survival and resistance to all adverse factors has become the main task of the entire mining and metallurgical industry throughout 2022. Now ArcelorMittal Krivoy Rog continues to fight for survival, having survived last year’s difficulties related to the blockade of major seaports, as well as power outages and even a missile strike. We manage to maintain a satisfactory state of the company’s liquidity, including by attracting credit funds under ArcelorMittal group guarantees,” the top manager noted.
He also added that the support of the parent company, as well as the heroic work of the employees, made it possible to maintain the pulse of production in Kryvyi Rih.
“Now we are concentrating on gradually resuming more and more production processes at the combine and we expect to move to positive EBITDA as early as the second half of this year,” Longobardo said.
According to him, according to international financial reporting standards, in 2022 the company recognized UAH 36 billion of losses from a decrease in the usefulness of its non-current assets as a result of negative changes in the economic environment caused by Russian military aggression. Under the conditions of full-scale war in 2022 the level of AMKR capacity utilization did not exceed 20-25%. In spite of this, the company retained its staff, and all employees receive their salaries on time.
The company does not stop investing even in the extremely difficult wartime conditions. Now those investment projects are being implemented, without implementation of which the production of steel and ore may stop completely. Among such projects is the construction of the new tailing pond “The Third Map”, which is necessary for the continuation of production and safe storage of the production wastes.
It is also reported that in 2022 AMKR invested $181.4 million in production development, of which operating costs amounted to $68.6 million and capital – $112.8 million. During the 17 years of work in Ukraine ArcelorMittal invested $10.6 billion (including $4.8 billion – the amount of purchase at privatization + $5.8 billion – investment in production development).
“ArcelorMittal Krivoy Rog is the largest producer of rolled steel in Ukraine. It specializes in the production of long products, particularly rebars and wire rod.
ArcelorMittal owns in Ukraine the largest mining and metallurgical plant “ArcelorMittal Krivoy Rog” and a number of small companies, in particular PJSC “ArcelorMittal Beryslav”.
ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih PJSC (AMKR, Dnipropetrovsk oblast) has cut production of metallurgical coke at its coke-chemical division by 68.1% in 2022 compared with the previous year – to 922 thousand tons.
A company representative told Interfax-Ukraine news agency that in December the company produced 41,000 tonnes of metallurgical coke.
At the same time in 2022 the gross coke output at AMKR amounted to 1.060 mln tonnes, including 47 thnd tonnes in December.
Coke production at ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih for 2021 increased by 9.2% to 2.890 million tonnes, including 250 thousand tonnes produced in December.
In 2022 the company supplied over 1.4 million tonnes of coal concentrate, including 469 thousand tonnes of domestically mined coal, 390 thousand tonnes from Russia (pre-war), 65 thousand tonnes from Kazakhstan, 54 thousand tonnes from Poland, 15 thousand tonnes from the Czech Republic, 218 thousand tonnes from the USA and 192 thousand tonnes from Australia. In December, the AMKR supplied 108,000 tons of coals, including 72,000 tons from domestic production, 21,000 tons from Poland, 11,000 tons from the United States and 4,000 tons from Australia.
As Ukrainian coke plants reported, in 2022 the production of gross coke with 6% moisture decreased by 59% compared to the previous year, to 3.91 million tons, including 3.354 million tons of metallurgical coke. In 2022, 4.594 million tonnes of coal concentrate were supplied to the domestic CCPs, including 3.158 million tonnes produced in Ukraine.
“ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih is the largest producer of rolled steel in Ukraine. It specializes in the production of long products, in particular rebars and wire rod.
ArcelorMittal owns Ukraine’s largest mining and metallurgical plant, ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, and a number of smaller companies, in particular ArcelorMittal Beryslav PJSC.
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.
Kryvyi Rih Mining and Metallurgical Plant PJSC “ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih” (AMKR, Dnipropetrovsk region) at its coke chemical division in January-August of this year reduced the production of metallurgical coke by 62.6% compared to the same period last year – up to 740 thousand tons .
A representative of the company told Interfax-Ukraine that in August the company produced 44,000 tons of metallurgical coke.
At the same time, in January-August 2022, the production of 6% moisture gross coke at AMKR amounted to 851 thousand tons, including 51 thousand tons in August.
Coke production at ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih for 8 months-2021 increased by 12.1% – up to 1.976 million tons, including 260 thousand tons in August last year.
In January-August 2022, 263 thousand tons of domestically produced coal, 390 thousand tons from Russia (before the war), 65 thousand tons from Kazakhstan, 27 thousand tons from Poland, 15 thousand tons from the Czech Republic, 208 thousand tons from the USA and 134 thousand tons from Australia. In August, AMKR delivered 48,000 tons of domestic coal, 18,000 tons from the United States, and 8,000 tons from Australia.
As reported, in January-August this year, Ukrainian Coke Plants reduced the production of gross coke with 6% moisture by 55.2% compared to the same period last year, to 2.94 million tons. Including for 8 months-2022, the production of metallurgical coke amounted to 2.52 million tons. At the same time, 257.7 thousand tons of gross coke were produced in August, including 221 thousand tons of metallurgical coke.
Ukraine in 2021 reduced the production of coke by 1.3% compared to 2020 – to 9.543 million tons.
“ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih” is the largest producer of rolled steel in Ukraine. It specializes in the production of long products, in particular rebar and wire rod.
ArcelorMittal owns the largest mining and metallurgical plant in Ukraine, ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, and a number of small companies, in particular, PJSC ArcelorMittal Berislav.
PJSC ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih (Dnipropetrovsk region) is gradually restoring production after a forced shutdown in March this year.
According to the company, during the visit to the enterprise, head of Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration Valentyn Reznichenko, chairman of Dnipropetrovsk regional council Mykola Lukashuk and head of Kryvy Rih military administration Oleksandr Vilkul discussed the restart of metallurgical production.
At the same time, it was stated that one blast furnace, two coke oven batteries, three pouring machines, a rolling mill, a converter and one of the three continuous casting machines are currently operating at the enterprise.
“One of the largest mining and metallurgical plants, ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, resumes work. It is still a long way before the launch of all capacities, but the company has embarked on this path. The company is building new logistics and looking for new sales markets. Thousands of employees of the plant have a salary, and the budget – taxes,” the head of Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration said.
Vilkul, in turn, stated that important production facilities had resumed work in the industrial sector over the past two weeks.
Serhiy Lavrynenko, Deputy General Director for Metallurgical Production at ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, added that thanks to the support of the parent company ArcelorMittal, the government of Ukraine, Ukrzaliznytsia managed to restore part of the production operations at ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih.
“We are optimistic… We hope to arrange coal supplies in sufficient quantities to restart another blast furnace in the near future, and then increase the level of rolled products production,” Lavrynenko said.
At the same time, it is recalled that in early March, the company’s management decided to stop all blast furnaces of the enterprise and the processes of metallurgical production. The coking plant is now in a state of hot downtime – this is a necessary measure to avoid causing irreparable damage to the equipment. The work of the mining department did not stop after the Russian invasion, although the level of ore production was reduced due to interruptions in the operation of logistics routes and the shutdown of blast furnaces, the company said.
However, since April, the plant has been gradually resuming production processes. The restart began with the return to operation of blast furnace No. 6, it resumed operation on April 9.
