Metinvest Group’s metallurgical enterprises in Ukraine have launched production of 25 new products in 2023, including the joint venture Zaporizhstal, which has mastered the production of 14 new products.
According to the group’s press release on Tuesday, despite Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine that has been going on for almost two years, Metinvest remains the country’s economic and industrial backbone. The Group’s enterprises have launched new products, including partially compensating for the production of assets in the temporarily occupied Mariupol.
Most of the new products were launched in the semi-finished products segment, including hot-rolled coils and long products (seven each) and cold-rolled and galvanized coils (two each). Zaporizhstal and Kametstal accounted for the lion’s share of new products. The Group’s galvanized steel producer, Unisteel, launched two new types of products.
It is specified that Zaporizhstal started producing slabs of various sizes from steel grades S235, S275, and S355 as semi-finished products. These products are supplied to Metinvest’s European assets, where they are used to make hot-rolled plates and coils. For its part, Kametstal has mastered the production of two types of square billets – continuously cast and hot-rolled – from new steel grades and with increased requirements for structure and properties. The plant now uses these semi-finished products for its own production of long products and wire rod and supplies them to customers in Ukraine and Europe.
As part of its hot-rolled, cold-rolled and galvanized coils and sheets product range, Zaporizhstal has started producing seven types of rolled products for the construction and machine-building industries in accordance with European, American and Ukrainian standards. In particular, the plant has launched the production of S355J2 coils in accordance with the European standard EN 10025-2 and its Ukrainian counterpart DSTU EN 10025-2. The products have been tested and received confirmation of conformity from an international certification center. Hot-rolled steel products made of S355J2 steel produced in Zaporizhzhia are already successfully supplied to Poland, Romania and other European countries.
In addition, this year Zaporizhstal has mastered the production of cold-rolled coils from structural steel grades S320GD and S350GD for galvanizing. Previously, this semi-finished product was supplied by Ilyich Iron and Steel Works of Mariupol for protective coating. The launch of this product at Zaporizhstal allowed Unisteel to resume production and supply of structural galvanized coils used in the manufacture of steel structures.
The press release emphasizes that cooperation between Zaporizhstal and Unisteel has also been strengthened through other areas of cooperation. In 2023, the plant’s cold rolling shop completed the process of mastering the technology of cutting galvanized coils into sheets, which made it possible to significantly increase the sales of such products in the domestic market.
In terms of long products, Kametstal mastered new technologies and started production of steel grinding balls with diameters of 25 and 100 mm, as well as SVP27 profiles for the mining and metallurgical sector. The plant also produced two types of wire rod – 7.5 mm in diameter from SAE 1008 grade according to the American standard and 8 mm in diameter from European C80D2 steel. The products are used for wire drawing, rope manufacturing and hardware production.
“KAMETSTAL also started production of A500C rebar with a diameter of 36 mm. Such rolled products are in demand for critical construction and infrastructure projects and are used to build bridges, shelters and multi-storey buildings. For the machine-building industry, the plant has launched mass production of hot-rolled rounds with a diameter of 42 mm, which are used to create parts and structural elements for machinery and equipment.
“Metinvest is a vertically integrated group of steel and mining companies. The Group’s enterprises are mainly located in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovs’k regions. The main shareholders of the holding are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%), which jointly manage it. Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
SAP (Germany), a software and cloud services developer, plans to invest EUR2 million in the localization of its products in Ukraine in 2024, the Ministry of Digital Transformation reported on Facebook.
“Since the beginning of 2022, the company (SAP) has been supporting Ukraine by providing services and software licenses free of charge – now it has decided to continue doing so until the end of the first quarter of 2024,” Deputy Prime Minister for Innovation, Education, Science and Technology Development and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov wrote on Facebook on Friday.
According to the Ministry of Digital Transformation, the company’s technological support provided to Ukraine in 2023-2024 is estimated at EUR65 million.
Fedorov recalled that in 2023, the Defense Ministry introduced a system from SAP that helps manage some of the resources, in particular, it accelerated the processing of applications from brigades for the supply of items. As of today, 44 countries use SAP products in the defense sector, including 28 out of 31 NATO member states, the Deputy Prime Minister said.
According to him, SAP products also help in the field of medical procurement. “A cloud-based solution has been implemented in this area to quickly find and engage suppliers who can deliver critical goods. The company also helped to set up catalogs for searching and comparing prices for specific medical products, which made it possible to purchase them at lower prices,” Fedorov said.
The Ministry of Digital Transformation also reminded that SAP has recently launched an ERP solution for medium-sized businesses called GROW with SAP, and joining the SAP Business Network makes it easier for Ukrainian goods to enter international markets.
Earlier it was reported that the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine is implementing an automated defense resource management system based on System Analysis Program Development (SAP), which is one of the leading logistics systems in the world.
The European Dairy Association (EDA) expressed dissatisfaction with the European Commission over the unilateral imposition by several EU member states of restrictions on the import of Ukrainian agricultural products, in particular dairy products, and demands support for the extension of suspension of all tariffs and quotas, the EDA said.
“As EDA, we have clearly stated our support for the continuation of the European Commission’s zero quota, zero tariff approach when it comes to Ukrainian dairy exports to the EU. These exceptional times ask for unity rather than solo flying member states putting the internal market at risk. Today we cannot see a market impact that would justify any restrictions on the import of Ukrainian dairy imports, and we therefore called upon the European Commission to defend the integrity of the single market and to uphold the special suspension for all tariffs and quotas,” it said.
“Our special EU-Ukrainian dairy relationship was recently underlined with the attendance of the CEO of the Ukrainian Dairy Federation at our latest EDA Dairy Policy Conference in March 2023,” it added.
The inflated cost of food products purchased for the Armed Forces, as reported in the media, does not correspond to reality, as evidenced by the contract of the Defense Ministry, with a copy of which the members of the parliamentary committee on national security, defense and intelligence have familiarized themselves, said its head Aleksandr Zavitnevych (Sluka Naroda faction).
“We have all seen the contract and the figure that was specified (in the media – IFU) does not correspond to reality. Therefore, to say that we buy chicken eggs two or three times more expensive than in the market is wrong. The contract has a completely different figure,” Zavitnevich said on the air of the national telethon on Monday.
He specified that all members of the committee at Monday’s meeting saw a copy of this contract.
According to Zavitnevich, it will be possible to draw any conclusions after an appropriate expertise and investigation by law enforcement agencies. He also believes that there is no need to rush with personnel changes in connection with the high-profile situation.
“Now to talk about personnel changes … I would not make such statements. When the NABU and other law enforcement agencies arrive at their conclusions and when the cases are sent to court, then we will be able to talk about some personnel decisions,” the head of the committee said.
He recalled that even before the publication in the media about possible abuses in the procurement of products for the AFU interested the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and other law enforcement agencies.
As reported earlier, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov denied information about the purchase of food for the Armed Forces at inflated prices.
Earlier, the ZN.UA publication asserted that under the agreement of the Defense Ministry on the services of catering in 2023 for military units stationed in Poltava, Sumy, Kiev, Zhytomyr, Chernihiv and Cherkasy regions, in a deal worth 13.16 billion UAH overpriced procurement by 2-3 times.
Ukraine in January-November this year, Ukraine has reduced the export of semi-finished products of carbon steel in physical terms by 70.6% compared to the same period last year – up to 1 million 824.586 thousand tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS), in monetary terms, exports of semi-finished products of carbon steel during this period decreased by 69.4% – to $ 1 billion 147.436 million.
In addition, Ukraine imported 5,558 thousand tons of such products in January-November, which is 84.7% less than in January-November 2021. In monetary terms, imports decreased by 84.9% to $3.634 million.
As reported, Ukraine in 2021 decreased exports of semi-finished carbon steel products in volume terms by 9.5% compared to 2020 – up to 6 million 776.44 thousand tons. In monetary terms, exports of semi-finished carbon steel products for the year increased by 48.8% – to $4 billion 93.02 million. The main exports were shipped to Italy (30.90% of deliveries in monetary terms), Turkey (12.77%) and the Dominican Republic (8.02%).
In addition, Ukraine imported 38.97 thousand tons of such products in 2021, which is 2.6 times more than in 2020. In monetary terms, imports increased by 3.9 times – up to $25.95 million. Imports were from the Russian Federation (97.73% of supplies), Turkey (1.15%) and Uzbekistan (1.08%).
Kokhavinskaya paper mill (KBF, Lviv region), which produces sanitary and hygienic paper products (TM “Kokhavinka”), in January-September 2022, produced products worth UAH 862.57 million, which is 40.8% more than in the same period of 2021.
According to the statistics of the association “UkrPapir”, provided to the agency “Interfax-Ukraine”, thus, the factory has more than 40% increase in production volume of more than 40%, recorded on the basis of seven and eight months.
In physical terms, the production of base paper for sanitary and hygienic products increased by 1.3% – up to 30.2 thousand tons.
At the same time, the production of toilet paper in rolls increased by 16.1% – to almost 97 million pieces, which remains the second largest indicator after the Kyiv KBK (247.7 million pieces).
In general, the main enterprises of the industry during this period produced 429.2 million rolls (-17.2% compared to January-September 2021).
KBF, which has been operating since 1939, produces base paper for sanitary and hygienic products, as well as toilet paper and paper towels. The capacity of paper machines is 19 thousand tons per year, processing equipment is 90 million rolls per year.
The factory has practically not stopped production since the beginning of this year.
KBF in 2021, according to UkrPapir, increased the volume of production of marketable products by 13% compared to 2020 – up to UAH 673.7 million.
