Zaporizhstal now operating at 40%-50% of its capacity, Kryvyi Rih mining plants at 40% capacity - companies' management

KYIV. April 25 (Interfax-Ukraine) - The Zaporizhstal steelworks, owned by Rinat Akhmetov and Vadym Novynskyi's Metinvest Group, is now operating at 40%-50% of its capacity after partially restarting production, Zaporizhstal general Director Oleksandr Myronenko said.

Because of the ongoing events in Ukraine, the enterprise's operations were suspended for 33 days and were then resumed, Myronenko said. There are also logistic problems such as the supply of raw materials and the shipping of finished products, he said.

"The casting and mechanical and chemical recovery plants were launched first of all. Production at Zaporizhstal was also resumed after that," Myronenko said during a visit to the enterprise by the Metinvest CEO.

The sinter plant and two blast furnaces were launched first of all, after which the whole cycle - open-hearth and rolling plants - resumed at Zaporizhstal, he said.

"We have restored the line of production. It is currently operating at 40%-50% of its capacity," he said.

Metinvest general director Yuriy Ryzhenkov, in turn, has visited the group's enterprises in Kryvyi Rih.

"Our enterprises in Kryvyi Rih are operating at around 40% of their capacity. The main constraining factor is logistics and the sales market. Of course, we are manufacturing and delivering the products that we can deliver to our consumers in Europe. The first attempts have been undertaken to handle the logistics via ports in the Baltic region and Romania. In April, we are already loading a ship in Constanta and Swinoujscie and we will try to develop it. I hope that we will resolve these issues. In this case, the company will be able to bring the Kryvyi Rih enterprises to 100% of their capacity," Ryzhenkov said.

Metinvest is a vertically integrated mining and metals company. It owns enterprises in Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya and Dnipro regions and in European countries.

Zaporizhstal is one of Ukraine's largest industrial enterprises. The shareholders of Zaporizhstal, which is currently in the process of integration into Metinvest Group, are PJSC System Capital Management (71.24%) and Smart Holding Group (23.76%).