In the first quarter of this year, Ukrainian integrated steel mill ArcelorMittal Kryviy Rih recorded lower production results due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In the January-March period this year, ArcelorMittal Kryviy Rih’s crude steel and pig iron production decreased both by 7.1 percent year on year to 1.3 million mt. In the given period, the company’s finished steel output dropped by 7.7 percent year on year to 1.2 million mt.
“We are struggling to maintain our production figures amid Covid-19. Both our suppliers and partners have become hostages of the quarantine restrictions worldwide, which aim to curb the coronavirus outbreak. Additionally, we are obliged to change our logistics, having faced revisions of orders from some of our customers,” ArcelorMittal Kryviy Rih CEO Mauro Longobardo stated.
Concurrently, in the first quarter this year the company carried out scheduled maintenance works at its oxygen converters Nos. 2 and 6 and at a number of sintering machines in various production departments of the plant. The company is proceeding with repairs of converter No. 4 and boiler No. 4 at one of its thermal power stations and is also working on the introduction of the modern gas purification system at the sintering machine No. 2 in the second sintering unit, SteelOrbis has learned.