ArcelorMittal Restarts Steelmaking Operations at Ukraine Plant

By Ed Frankl

ArcelorMittal said Tuesday that it has decided to partially restart steelmaking operations at its plant in Ukraine, having been idled for more than a month.

The steel mill at Kryvyi Rih, one of Europe's largest with around 26,000 workers, was closed in early March, soon after Russia's invasion that crippled Ukraine's industry.

The Luxembourg-based company said it was asked by the Ukraine government to consider restarting production at the plant as part of efforts to begin rebuilding the country's economy.

"Having thoroughly assessed the situation in terms of the safety of our employees as well as logistics, we have decided to restart blast furnace 6, meaning that we can resume low levels of pig-iron production," the company said in a statement.

There are three blast furnaces at Kryvyi Rih, located in southern Ukraine, with furnace 6 one of two smaller ones. The restart means around pig-iron production will be around 20% of the plant's normal levels, an ArcelorMittal spokesman said.

Write to Ed Frankl at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 12, 2022 09:41 ET (13:41 GMT)

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