Steel: energy outages impact Ukrainian production
Steel production in Ukraine took a hit last week due to the ongoing conflict with Russia. Industry observers told MetalMiner that several Ukrainian steel mills are facing production and rolling issues. Energy suppliers are rationing the distribution of energy to major consumers. Rationing is a direct result of rocket attacks and other military actions by Russian forces .
Since the large-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February, several Russian offensive measures have targeted the country's energy grid. According to European news reports, drone attacks on energy resources have also exacerbated the problem since October.
Luckily, long steelmaker Kamet Steel got one of its three blast furnaces back online on Dec. 13. According to parent company Metinvest, though, this move came with a caveat. “Kamet Steel is currently producing pig iron in one of its blast furnaces. The further recovery of crude steel and rolled steel production will largely be driven by the supply shortage in the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine,” Metinvest said. Kamet can produce up to 3.5 million tons of crude steel annually. The plant is capable of casting up to 3.5 million tons of crude steel per year, from which it obtains square and round billets for commercial sale and the rolling of 1.8 million tons of long products.
ArcelorMittal Kriviy Rih, also in Dnipropetrovsk oblast, is also severely limited in its production, a plant spokesman said. “After a new massive missile attack on Ukraine's critical infrastructure in November, ArcelorMittal Kryviy Rih had to critically limit its electricity consumption and suspend most of its production processes. The plant has temporarily halted steel smelting and rolled product production,” the spokesman said in an email. “The business of shipping the rolled products to customers is working as expected, as there is sufficient stock in the warehouses,” the spokesperson added.
The Dnipropetrovsk plant is capable of producing approximately 6 million tons of crude steel annually through the BF/BOF process. The plant then casts this material into billets for rolling into long products, such as wire rod, rebar and merchant bars.
Laminate producer Zaporizhstal is also grappling with blackouts and stop-and-go plant closures. Zaporizhstal, which produces hot and cold rolled coils and derivatives, is facing limitations in its rolling program. The plant's laminate production from January to November decreased by 57.5 percent from a year earlier, reaching 1.25 million tons according to local trade sources.
The formal announcement on September 30 by President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation's annexation of four Ukrainian oblasts affected by steel production, one of which included Zaporizhie, has so far had no impact on the plant's operations. Our sources noted that this is because Russian control in the area is almost non-existent.
Further east in Ukraine, sources say Donetskstal, Makiyivka, Azovstal and Yenakievo are not operational, although there are no firm sources on the matter. Many other plants are damaged and too close to the battle lines to be controlled safely, so it is not even possible to evaluate the damage and restoration times.
The drop in steel production from Ukraine, once one of the major European producers, will have heavy repercussions above all on the production capacity of their European downstream companies. It will not be easy to get supplies for these.
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The article Steel: energy outages impacting Ukrainian production comes from Scenari Economici .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/acciaio-le-interruzioni-di-energia-impattano-sulle-produzioni-ucraine/ on Fri, 23 Dec 2022 12:14:27 +0000.