Akhmetov's Metinvest halves steel and ore production in first half of 2023

Mining and metallurgical group Metinvest in the first half of 2023 halved the production of steel and ore, according to the financial statements of the company's activities.

In the first half of 2023, the group's production of iron and steel amounted to 918,000 tons and 1.03 million tons, which is 59% and 57% less than the same period last year, respectively.

The group named the shutdown of the Mariupol plants from the end of February 2022, as well as the transition to work with two blast furnaces, instead of three, at Kametstal as the main reasons for the decline.

Production of total iron ore concentrate in the first half of 2023 decreased by 46% compared to the same period of the previous year – to 4.75 million tons.

As a result, the volume of production of commercial iron ore products decreased by 35% – to 4.04 million tons – due to a decrease in the production of commercial concentrate by 66% (to 1.49 million tons). The increase in the production of commodity pellets by 37% – up to 2.56 million tons – took place through the reorientation of the order portfolio.

After February 24, 2022, Metinvest stopped production at enterprises in Mariupol, Avdiivka, and Zaporizhzhia, where such large enterprises as Azovstal, Ilyich Iron & Steel Works, Avdiivka Coke Plant, Zaporizhzhya Coke Plant.

Later, the group's plants in Zaporizhzhya resumed production, the Mariupol plants were destroyed and occupied by the Russians, and the Avdiivka Coke Plant is still on the front line.

As of the beginning of 2023, all mining and beneficiation plants belonging to Rinat Akhmetov resumed operations.

In 2022, the mining and metallurgical group Metinvest recorded a loss of $2.193 billion. The year before that, it had a profit of $4.765 billion.

According to forecasts of the CEO of the group, Yuriy Ryzhenkov, the restoration of the Azovstal and Ilyich plant in Mariupol after the return of the city to the control of Ukraine may take up to five years.