ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih successfully sells products in EU in 2025, now cutting output, operating at loss due to CBAM, electricity shortages
The Kryvyi Rih mining and metallurgical plant PJSC ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih (AMKR, Dnipropetrovsk region) successfully sold steel products in the EU market in 2025 but is currently reducing production and operating at a loss due to the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and electricity shortages.
According to AMKR Director for Government Relations Oleh Krykavsky, speaking at the event "How do Russian attacks on the energy system affect Ukrainian business?", organized by the Centre for Economic Strategy (CES), the enterprise has managed to continue operating and remain afloat because it is part of a large multinational corporation.
"We were supported by receiving more than $1 billion in assistance from the multinational corporation, which was used to ensure the enterprise continued operations. Currently, the plant operates on average at 50% of its capacity. Last year we were quite successful in the EU market, including thanks to government actions, because a good agreement was reached with the European Union to extend duty-free trade for another three years. In 2025, we exported 1.2 million tonnes of steel products to the European market out of 3 million tonnes. But due to CBAM, our costs are rising, forcing us to shut down one shop – the blooming mill," the top manager said.
At the same time, he clarified that AMKR is in a disadvantaged position compared with European manufacturers under CBAM, as it will have to pay $63–90 per tonne, depending on the type of product. Electricity tariffs are also high, and electricity import contracts are very short-term.
"We have had several cases when we failed to meet electricity consumption volumes, and our trader sold it on the market for UAH 0. Not only did we pay for it, we did not receive it, we were forced to cut production and suffered direct losses. Of course, we are in dialogue with the government on this issue," the company explained.
Responding to questions about strikes on equipment, Krykavsky noted that equipment continues operating during air raid alerts. However, losses caused by emergency situations do occur and are painful. Under normal conditions, the enterprise consumes 400 MWh, but due to restrictions it now consumes 230–250 MWh, while limits may fall to 70 MWh.
"That means during peak hours you have to figure out what to do. Usually you think about imports because you need to keep operating. Plus, you cannot send workers home for five to seven hours without pay. People receive salaries at work, so operations must continue," the AMKR representative stated.
He added that the enterprise had an incident when a coke oven battery was damaged due to an electricity outage caused by a grid accident.
"We are determining who is responsible. But one coke oven battery burned down. A coke oven battery is essentially a chemical process, meaning it cannot be stopped. We installed industrial generators for such cases, but even they require 16 or more units to start," the manager explained.
With only half of its capacity operational, the enterprise is trying to compensate by redistributing loads, while simultaneously repairing idle facilities so they can be launched later.
"We are considering our own generation and cogeneration. There is limited resource and limited potential. It is very expensive. But we are working on it in parallel; we have our own combined heat and power plants and technologies that allow this. However, we are a large enterprise requiring significant capacity," the AMKR government relations director summarized.
ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih is Ukraine's largest producer of rolled steel products. It specializes in long products, particularly reinforcing bar and wire rod. The enterprise has a full production cycle, with production capacities designed for annual output exceeding 6 million tonnes of steel, more than 5 million tonnes of rolled products, and more than 5.5 million tonnes of pig iron.
