Metinvest will resume investing in new Ukrainian assets only after the war.
“Ukraine has to win decisively for the investments to be resumed,” the group CEO Yuri Ryzhenkov has said.
During the war, the group is revising its strategy, but the goal remains unchanged – to become one of the key players on the European metal market.
Metinvest plans to construct a new plant in Bulgaria or Italy to provide its mining and processing works with the iron ore sales market.
The group has two possible ways to restore its assets in Mariupol once it is freed from Russian troops. None sees restoration of Azovstal on the same spot.
The first way is to restore the Mariupol Ilyich Iron and Steel Works with the expansion of its technological lines that have once been at Azovstal. According to Azovstal CEO Enver Tskitishvili, the average cost of such a project is $15 billion and the construction time is 7 years. It will take 2-3 years to clear the site.
The second way is to construct a new plant on a new territory. This could cost $8-9 billion. (Ukrainian metal)