(Bloomberg) -- Ukraine’s biggest steelmaker is seeking to develop decarbonized steel production facilities in Ukraine once risks from Russia’s invasion subside, according to its chief executive officer.
Metinvest BV lost two mills in Ukraine’s Mariupol after Kremlin troops invaded Ukraine in 2022, with annual steel output declining to between 5.5 million tons and 6 million tons from around 14 million tons before the war. While returning to pre-war production levels will be “virtually impossible” now, Metinvest still has a “pretty good” resource base to cater for green steel production in Europe, CEO Yuriy Ryzhenkov said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.
“That will be the future of the Ukrainian steel industry,” Ryzhenkov said on Wednesday. “Obviously, we have to wait until war risks decrease considerably to allow us for large investments in Ukraine.”
Metinvest is also looking at opportunities outside Ukraine, which exports around 80 percent of its steel, for building or acquiring new green steel facilities, according to the CEO. The company is working on a project in Italy after it signed memorandum with Danieli & C. Officine Meccaniche SpA and the Italian government to relaunch a steel site in Tuscany.
“We are the source of the largest pure material for green steel production on the European continent,” Ryzhenkov said.
--With assistance from Lauren Tavener.
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