Just Half Of The Ukrainian Plant’s Blast Furnaces Are On
This is a great article on how these steel plants are running at only 50 % capacity. Since the war Ukrainian steel is pushed to the brink with little chance of recovery.
August 12, 2022 11:20 AM |Updated: August 12, 2022 5:42 PM
By: Jason Beaubien
The furnaces are designed to run constantly, he says, and normally would never be shut down over their 30-year life span. But earlier this year all four furnaces had to be dialed back to what Safonov calls a “low idle” as Russian troops threatened to advance on Zaporizhzhia. Moscow’s forces never reached the area, but tens of thousands of people fled. Much of the city shut down, and the factory that used to employ 11,000 workers is now operating at less than 50% of capacity.
Word from CEO of Ukrainian Steel Plant :
“The main difficulty is the logistics,” Ryzhenkov says. Traditionally, all Ukrainian steel companies, of which Metinvest is the largest, export their products via the Black Sea ports or Azov Sea ports. “At the moment,” Ryzhenkov says. “The ports have been blocked by the Russians.”
