ArcelorMittal Krivoi Rog cuts roll, crude steel and coke output 20% in 2023

MOSCOW. Jan 24 (Interfax) - The ArcelorMittal Krivoi Rog (AMKR) steel works in Ukraine reduced steel roll output 19.2% in 2023 to 900,000 tonnes, Ukrainian media reported, quoting a company statement.

Crude steel output fell 18.5% to 1 million tonnes, pig iron 7.2% to 1.5 million tonnes and coke 20.3% to 900,000 tonnes, however iron ore concentrate production rose 0.4% to 4.6 million tonnes.

Ore mining fell 2.1% to 11.4 million tonnes.

The metallurgical division operated at 25-30% of its capacity and mining at 40%.

Mauro Longobardo, AMKR's general director, said that electricity, transportation and coal prices and other costs rose exponentially last year and did not come down, affecting financial results and the competitiveness of the enterprise's commercial products.

The situation was also affected by major resource supply disruptions in Q1 and Q2. Electricity supply restrictions in Q1 prevented the company from launching all planned units, and steel production was suspended due to limited water supply after the emergency at the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power plant.

"Our main task in such conditions remains to hold our ground, ramp up production capacity and reduce losses as much as possible, and even better, reach zero losses. Before this, we survived thanks to the corporation's [ArcelorMittal] support. So we plan to increase production, in 2024," Longobardo said.

He also said that halting large-scale investment projects such as the pelletizing plant should help the plant get through challenging times. The strategic capital investment plan's emphasis is on a key project for production - construction of the III Map tailings dump.

"But we continue to pay taxes and salaries and honor environmental commitments: we closed the oldest sintering plant for metal production in 2023 and this, together with the closure in 2022 of two coke batteries - Nos. 1 and 2 - will significantly reduce the industrial load on the region [...]," Longobardo said.

ArcelorMittal Krivoi Rog is the largest producer of rolled steel in Ukraine. It specializes in the production of long products, in particular rebar and wire rod.