ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih Warns Over Increase in Railway Tariffs
Strategic Research Institute
Published on :
11 Jul, 2022, 6:37 am
Interfax Ukraine reported that ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih has warned Ukraine's government about the threat of a shutdown due to a 70% increase in railway tariffs. ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih in a 5 July letter to Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Ms Yulia Svyrydenko said that due to the increase in railway tariffs by 70%, the functioning of the enterprise was under threat. The letter said “We had to make a number of difficult decisions in order to balance the issue of the physical safety of workers and our desire to increase export volumes, which provide foreign exchange earnings to the economy and the survival of our enterprise. Due to the decision of the Ministry of Infrastructure to increase railway tariffs from 1 July 2022 as well as the continued blocking of Black Sea ports logistics costs have increased by 400%. At the same time, prices for metal products on world markets fell by more than USD 300 per tonne and for iron ore concentrate by more than USD 40 per tonne.”
ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih wrote “We see this increase in railway tariffs as a significant threat to the operation of our enterprise, our ability to function, provide jobs and replenish state and local budgets.”
ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih administration is urging the government to find a balanced solution.
ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, after the commissioning of blast furnace No 6, converter and rolling shops in April-June of this year, began to export steel and unprecedented volumes of iron ore concentrate. As a result, about 650,000 tonnes of products were sold in June, including 200,000 tonnes of metal products and 450,000 tonnes of iron ore concentrate.
ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih is the largest producer of rolled steel in Ukraine. It specializes in production of long products, in particular rebar and wire rod.