Metinvest mining and metallurgical group will invest in a logistics center in Poland in order to increase the supply of Ukrainian metal products for export, the company’s CEO Yuriy Ryzhenkov said in an interview with the leading Polish business publication Business Insider.
According to him, Zaporizhstal and Kamet Steel are currently operating at 65-70% and 75% of their capacity, respectively. About 25% of products are sold on the domestic market, the rest goes mainly to the EU. At the same time, steel is sold mainly in neighboring countries, such as Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Romania, and Bulgaria.
The company also sells metal products to Italy, Germany or France.
“Steel mills can hardly complain about the low level of sales, but iron ore enterprises were less fortunate. Here, in addition to domestic consumption, China was also a buyer. However, in the current situation, exports there are practically impossible, since the Black Sea ports are blocked, therefore, the border countries of the EU also remain buyers here. Iron ore enterprises now use about 35-40% of their capacity. We tried to send raw materials to China through Romanian and Polish ports. However, unfortunately, the economy of this logistics simply does not work in the current market,” the top manager said.
He noted that at the same time, the coal production of the company in Ukraine operates at 100% capacity. The mined coal is supplied to the group’s coking enterprises in Ukraine, and is also sold on the local market. The rest is sold abroad, mainly in Slovakia and Poland.
“In 2022, our steel production decreased by 69% compared to last year. This affected a number of financial indicators. For example, our profit in 2022 is 54% less than last year,” the CEO said.
He also stated that Metinvest’s strategy has not changed – the company wanted to connect Ukraine and Ukrainian iron ore with the European steel production chain. Therefore, the group continues to look for opportunities to acquire assets that would allow it to use the Ukrainian raw material base, produce products in the EU and supply them to European consumers.
Kronospan Group, which has woodworking enterprises Kronospan UA (Volyn region) and Kronospan Rivne (Rivne region) in Ukraine, has invested more than EUR20 mln to establish a logistics center in Kalinovka village, Kyiv region, which was put into operation in May this year, said Natalia Pokinska, general director of Kronospan UA.
“In conditions of a full-scale war, disruption of logistics routes and other unfavorable conditions, we are investing more than EUR20 million logistics center near Kiev, the purpose of which is to receive road and rail freight from foreign Kronospan companies and our territorial divisions,” Pokinskaya said at the forum “FIT for Ukraine (Forum on Investments and Transformations): Furniture Cluster”.
According to her, the main stage of investments has been completed and the logistics center is currently located on 15 hectares of area, has facilities and capacities that it can provide to partners. Its construction was launched in 2019.
Pokinskaya emphasized that during 19 years of Kronospan Group’s work in Ukraine, the total volume of investments in the Ukrainian woodworking industry exceeded EUR900 million (both own funds and financial institutions, including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)), and since the beginning of the full-scale war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine – EUR122 million.
She reminded that the construction of the plant in Rivne region, investments in which started in 2019 and where the first particleboard production line was commissioned in 2021, is one of the largest investment projects in Ukraine in recent years (more than EUR400 mln).
In total, more than 700 jobs have been created at the company’s enterprises.
Kronospan Group, established in Austria in 1897, today is a major global manufacturer of wood-based sheet materials. It includes more than 40 production plants in many countries.
