Restoration of Ukraine's steelmaking capacity depends on security guarantees – Metinvest CEO

Ukrainian mining and metallurgical company Metinvest believes that security guarantees from the United States and Europe are needed to restore war-damaged metallurgical plants, the company's CEO Yuriy Ryzhenkov told Reuters.

The company aims to maintain production levels close to 2024 while continuing projects to improve energy independence, Ryzhenkov said. However, more ambitious plans, such as repairs to some blast furnaces, will have to be postponed.

“We need to find out what conditions will be discussed for a ceasefire or peace agreement, and what guarantees will be offered so that businesses can start investing again. No one knows what will end up on the negotiating table. More importantly, we still don't understand what guarantees there will be that the war will not resume,” Ryzhenkov said.

Despite operating one of Ukraine’s largest coal mines, Metinvest is not a party to the country’s rare earths deal. The CEO stressed that US companies would also require security guarantees before investing.

“We invested billions in Mariupol and were ready to invest even more. But everything was destroyed in a matter of months. Not a single agreement was fulfilled,” he added.

As for production volumes, Ryzhenkov expressed hope that they will remain at approximately the 2024 level: this year, it is planned to produce 2.1 million tons of steel and 1.82 million tons of cast iron.

“We will try to improve the production of steel and iron ore. However, this improvement will be only 3-5% compared to last year. We do not expect significant growth until peace comes,” he explained.

At the same time, Metinvest continues to invest in solar panels and gas-fired power generation to increase its energy independence. Ryzhenkov added that the company’s green steel project in Italy is expected to move a step further in the coming weeks. The group is also considering several smaller M&A opportunities in Central and Eastern Europe.

Metinvest also hopes to avoid debt restructuring: “At the moment, we do not have significant urgent debt payments, so we do not feel the need for this. Obviously, this will depend on how the situation develops in the coming months,” the top manager concluded.

Metinvest is a vertically integrated group of mining and metallurgical companies. The company's main operations are concentrated in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions. The company's main shareholders are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%), which jointly manage the company.