ArcelorMittal Krivoi Rog protests artificial increase in Ukrainian Railways tariffs

MOSCOW. April 16 (Interfax) - ArcelorMittal Krivoi Rog Mining and Metallurgical Plant, Ukraine's largest steel works based in the Dnepropetrovsk region, is concerned about the changes Ukrainian Railways made to the train formation plan and the corresponding increase in tariff distance, which resulted in higher logistics costs.

ArcelorMittal Krivoi Rog has been suffering losses for the third year and is doing its utmost to bring the company to break-even, Ukrainian media reported, citing the company's statement.

"That is why we are extremely concerned about Ukrainian Railways changing from April 5, 2025 the plan of forming trains bound for the Odessa Commercial Seaport, which resulted in an increase in the tariff distance for trains carrying our products by 257 kilometers. In turn, the cost of production has also increased significantly," the statement said.

The change of Ukrainian Railways' routes is artificial and groundless, it said, adding that this has a negative impact on competitiveness and jeopardizes the company's target to reach zero losses and effective performance.

ArcelorMittal Krivoi Rog is the only enterprise in the Krivoi Rog region, which is shipping more than 100,000 tonnes of steel products monthly to the Odessa Commercial Seaport, the statement said. The changes to the train formation plan affect primarily ArcelorMittal Krivoi Rog, it said. The change of the tariff distance to the Odessa Commercial Seaport is artificial and selective, the statement said. ArcelorMittal Krivoi Rog dies not rule out that this is the sign of targeted economic pressure on it, the statement said.

Any abuse of monopoly position is unacceptable, ArcelorMittal Krivoi Rog Deputy General Director for Supply Alexander Bilyansky is quoted as saying in the statement. The company is ready to go to the Ukrainian Antimonopoly Committee over this issue, he said.

"We hope for an objective revision of Ukrainian Railways' decision. A positive resolution of this issue will help avoid unreasonable costs and the increase in cargo delivery time, and will enhance the competitiveness of our company's products in the mining and metallurgical industry as a whole," the statement said.

ArcelorMittal Krivoi Rog is the largest producer of rolled steel in Ukraine. It makes long steel products, in particular, rebar and wire rod. It has the full production cycle and is able to produce more than 6 million tonnes of steel, over 5 million tonnes of rolled products and over 5.5 million tonnes of pig iron per year.

ArcelorMittal's assets in Ukraine include ArcelorMittal Krivoi Rog, as well as a number of small companies, in particular ArcelorMittal Berislav.