To develop Ukrainian enterprises that extract iron ore, Metinvest needs to find a constant customer.
That’s how the group CEO Yuri Ryzhenkov commented the plans to buy Dunaferr.
“We have never made it secret that other European assets are of interest for us. Metinvest has been looking at European assets all the time, especially in Eastern Europe. We have always been watching US Steel Kosice, Dunaferr and Galati. At the same time this is not an alternative to investing funds in Ukrainian economy,” he said.
Before the war, more than half of ore extracted in Ukraine was exported, while only a third part was consumed in Ukraine.
“Now that we have lost operational control over Azovstal and Mariupol Ilyich Iron and Steel Works, this share is even lower. Thus, to develop our enterprises here, in Ukraine, we have to find a constant customer for their products. A plant in Bulgaria or Italy could use our high-quality Ukrainian pellets,” Ryzhenkov noted. (Ukrainian metal)
