Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, Ukrainian subsidiary of global steelmaker ArcelorMittal, has been forced to adopt certain measures to pursue its business.
Specifically, earlier ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih produced raw materials mainly to meet its own metallurgical production needs, with only around 20 percent of its iron ore output having been shipped abroad. Meanwhile, the company preferred to focus on exports of value-added products, with 80 percent of its finished steel output being exported.
Following the re-launch of operations after the shutdown of metallurgical production, in early May the company has managed to ship a record batch of iron ore concentrate for further export. In particular, notwithstanding the continued shelling in the Ingulets region, the company has renovated its concentrate loading point at the ore concentrator No. 1 within three weeks. Afterwards, the products were loaded for further transportation by national railway company “Ukrzaliznytsia” to customers. The expected capacity of this unit will be up to 100 trolleys per day. According to the official statement, the company has invested more than ten million UAH in the modernization of the loading point. “The launch of a new concentrator loading port No. 1 means that at this difficult time for our homeland our mining department is able to send to Europe 50 percent more concentrate than before the war. This is highly important both for the company and for the economy of Ukraine in general,”, deputy general director for production at ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, Volodymyr Tesliuk, stated.
According to the company's estimations, its total exports in May are likely to amount 450,000 mt of iron ore concentrate, with 100,000 mt of the volume expected to be shipped through the new loading point.