Metinvest halts production in Mariupol, AMKR reduces output

Metinvest has suspended some equipment at its Mariupol-based Ilyich and Azovstal plants after the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, Kallanish notes.

This decision was made by company’s crisis response centre to ensure the safety of its employees and preserve the equipment. The plants will use up hot metal and steel available on 24 February, following which operations will be put on hold.

Azovstal will suspend its operations at the coke shop, recovery and desulphurisation shop, blast furnace shop, BOF shop, plate mill, rail and structural mill, lime shop, and slag processing shop. Ilyich will suspend operations at the sinter plant, blast furnace and BOF shops, 1700 HSM and plate mill 3000, and the cold rolling mill.

The production suspension will continue for seven days. The decision on further operation of the enterprises will be made based on how the situation develops.

If Metinvest loses its assets in the Donetsk region – Azovstal, Ilyich, Pokrovskugol and Avdiivka Coke Plant – but retains the GOKs in Kryvyi Rih, the company will lose up to 40-50% of its annual profit, Ukrainian analysts said earlier this week.

ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih (AMKR) has meanwhile announced the suspension of steel production in Ukraine following the invasion, the company tells Kallanish.

“Regarding our plant, our team is working to slow down production to a technical minimum, but production will be stopped at our underground mines,” the firm says.

Earlier, the steelmaker reported that the plant continues to operate and its heads of departments have an emergency action plan (see Kallanish passim).

Other large Ukrainian steel enterprises, like DMZ, Ferrexpo and Interpipe, said on Thursday they were operating as usual. There were reports that Interpipe had suspended work, but the company denied this and told Kallanish it continues production as usual.

Ferrexpo’s mining and processing facilities located adjacent to the city of Horishni Plavni, in central Ukraine, where the situation remained stable on Thursday, are meanwhile operating. However, the government of Ukraine has now suspended rail transportation, the company adds.

Svetoslav Abrossimov Bulgaria