Metinvest CEO announces plans to 'rebuild Ukraine'

In an interview with Bloomberg, the CEO stressed the impact of Russia’s invasion on Metinvest, as the group temporarily lost control over the two largest steel mills in Mariupol (roughly 30% of all its assets) but emphasized that the workers ‘believed in victory’, which he emphasized would be followed by large industrial investments.

Currently, all iron ore mines and mills that are still operational in Ukraine are unable to run at full capacity due to blackouts, infrastructure damage and the blockade of Black Sea ports. Most facilities are operating at less than 50% of their capacity.

When asked about the possibility of restoring infrastructure and assets, the CEO stated that the exact scale of damage to facilities is still unknown.

"We have seen many videos from the first few months of the war, but we don’t know the actual condition of the assets. It is quite likely that parts of the mills are intact or in an operable condition. Once the city is liberated, we will be able to send our specialists there, and we will know what’s repairable and what’s not. But in any case, our shareholder Rinat Akhmetov has already announced that we will be rebuilding those facilities, and they will not be the same as before."

According to Ryzkenkov, Metinvest will move toward green steel and carbon neutral production, with new facilities planned for construction in Mariupol to facilitate the shift in process.

Ryzkenkov also has hopes to purchase new assets outside of Ukraine, stating that "[Metinvest] is also looking at the possibility of greenfield investments in some of the steel-importing countries in the EU. For example, Italy is a major steel importer, and we are looking at building a mill there that will produce steel using Ukrainian raw material."

Source: Bloomberg