Azovstal Iron and Steel Works planned to increase output in 2017 by 0.8-0.9 million tons, to 4.2-4.3 million tons, but because of the trade blockade of the occupied territories it revaluated the forecast to 3.15 million tons.
“If the situation persists and we still operate under the blockade regime, we might not even reach 3 million tons”, the company CEO Enver Tskitishvili said.
According to him, during the blockade Azovstal has seen financial losses because the raw material prices increased.
“The investment climate worsens”, he added,
Because of the drop of output and the increase in price of raw materials the works has stopped paying repair companies, and now carries some 5-10% of repairs by itself.
Tskitishvili says the blockade will endanger the local budget of Mariupol, as the works pays around 200 million UAH per year to the city budget, and the annual salary of 11.5 thousand employees is 740-760 million UAH.
In 2016 Azovstal produced 3.335 million tons of rolled metal, 3.705 million tons of steel and 3.177 million tons of pig iron, all up by 14.8%, 15.6% and 12.5% YoY respectively. (Ukrainian metal)
