Heads of large industrial companies in Ukraine, which generate a quarter of foreign exchange earnings in the country, have summed up the outcomes of 2021 and determined plans for 2022.
Yuriy Ryzhenkov, CEO of Metinvest Group, said that 2021 was a special year for the company, full of events and challenges, worries and victories.
“In the 15th anniversary year of Metinvest, we have been intensively developing and creating new meanings. By joint efforts of our employees, we have achieved excellent performance in operational improvements. The favorable market situation has made it possible to obtain good financial results in order to invest in upgrading the capacities of our enterprises and social projects,” the top manager said in his congratulations on Facebook.
According to him, in 2021 the company invested record funds in modernization. It began the most ambitious project in its history, worth more than $1 billion – the construction of a cold rolling mill at Illich Steel, took the first important steps towards decarbonization, and successfully resisted the coronavirus pandemic, supplying oxygen to hospitals at the most difficult time for Ukraine.
“We have strengthened vertical integration: we acquired the assets of Dniprovsky Integrated Iron & Steel Works, consolidated the enterprises of Pokrovske Coal Group. We launched new paths of cyclical-flow technology at Inhulets and Pivnichny Minings, a plasma cutting line at the Italian Trametal plant and started construction of the Technical University Metinvest Polytechnic – a project that will bring the quality of Ukrainian higher education to a new, European level and will become a visiting card not only for Mariupol, but for entire Ukraine,” Ryzhenkov said.
In turn, Director General of Zaporizhstal Oleksandr Myronenko pointed to the eco-modernization of the metallurgical plant over the past ten years: the reconstructed gas cleaning systems of a sinter plant and blast furnaces are efficiently operating.
“There is definitely a reason to call the plant’s environmental transformation case successful: by channeling about UAH 16 billion of green investments into the modernization of Zaporizhstal, we have achieved a reduction in emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere at operating production units by 15,000 tonnes per year,” the CEO said, adding that by the middle of 2022 a new modern aspiration unit for updated blast furnace No. 5 will be put into operation.
Director General of ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih Mauro Longobardo said that 2021 was a very difficult year. “After difficult 2020, when the COVID pandemic began, we needed to quickly recover and capitalize on the huge market demand for our products.”
“And we did it! Colossal production volumes, record deliveries… We had setbacks and gains, challenges and victories, tears and triumphs. But we showed: we are really made of steel. We were strong, but flexible, we kept good traditions, but introduced innovations, we were smart and inventive,” the CEO said.
According to him, the enterprise is ready for any challenges, while admitting that “it will not be easy.”
Dmytro Kolesnikov, Director General of Zaporizhia Iron Ore Plant, said that 2021 was a rich and fruitful year for the plant: “The enterprise not only consistently fulfilled its plans, but also invested in modernization, development and social projects in the territory of its presence.”
Serhiy Novak, Board Chairman of Kryvyi Rih Iron Ore Plant, assessed 2021 as “difficult”: “The year of overcoming difficulties, hard work and responsible decisions. We introduced new technologies into production, improved qualifications, and modernized expensive equipment. Together we implemented a number of initiatives to improve efficiency, had a much deeper understanding of the needs of our key customers.”
“What the year 2022 will be depends on each of us. Therefore, first of all, I want to wish everyone faith in themselves and their strengths, their professionalism and invaluable experience. May the New Year become for us the year of realizing ourselves, our talents and skills, bold decisions, and a discovery of new horizons,” he said.
Valeriy Yakovenko, Director General of the largest Ukrainian coking coal producer, PrJSC Pokrovske Coal, announced an intention to increase coal production by 12.3% in 2022 compared to 2021, to 7 million tonnes.
