PrJSC United Mining and Chemical Company (UMCC), which has taken over management of Vilnohirsk Mining and Metallurgical Plant (VGMK, Dnipro region) and Irshansk Mining and Processing Plant (IGOK, Zhytomyr region), has started selling titanium raw materials to Italy, Spain, Germany and is systematically expanding its exports.
According to the company, despite the difficulties and risks of wartime, it shipped more than 102 thousand tons of products in 2023. The planned supply volumes for 2024 are 200 thousand tons.
Yegor Perelygin, First Deputy Chairman of the Board of UMCC, quoted in the information, noted that due to effective approaches and communication with potential buyers, the company signed contracts for the supply of approximately 80 thousand tons in the fourth quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024.
“We were able to attract a series of subscriptions for finished products from stable market players and open new ways to supply world-class end users. We have integrated the coordination and logistics management functions in the commercial unit, become more flexible and focused on an individual approach to strategic customers. As a result, we have opened the UMCC brand to well-known end users in Italy, Spain and Germany,” he explained.
Mr. Perelygin added that by the end of the second quarter of this year, UMCC’s rutile and zircon may become absolutely regular and key components in the raw material portfolios of major processors in Italy, Spain and Germany.
At the same time, companies in the United States and the Czech Republic remain strategic partners for UMCC’s ilmenite concentrate. We are also launching export deliveries of Irshansky GOK’s ilmenite to one of the largest end users in North America. The company plans to sell about 60 thousand tons in the near future. The company emphasizes that the supply chain and end users of these products are strictly controlled by the company and law enforcement agencies.
“Our success is due to our large team. These are more than 4,000 professionals who work in the NONstop mode. Together, we have made a good start for 2024 and are moving step by step towards our strategic goal of producing value-added products and significantly curtailing the aggressor’s influence in the markets of critical minerals and strategic materials,” summarized Perelygin.
The United Mining and Chemical Company started its actual operations in August 2014, when the Ukrainian government decided to transfer the property complexes of Vilnohirsk Mining and Metallurgical Plant (VGMK, Dnipropetrovska oblast) and Irshansk Mining and Processing Plant (IGOK, Zhytomyrska oblast) to its management. Previously, these plants were leased to Firtash’s structures. Then the company was transformed into a PJSC and then into a PrJSC.
In August 2016, the government included UMCC in the list of companies to be privatized in 2017. Its deadline was postponed several times, and the tender was disrupted twice.
UMCC used to sell its products to more than 30 countries and was one of the world’s largest producers of titanium raw materials, accounting for 4% of the global market. The company mines titanium ore.
