The Metinvest group is ready to join the green transition of Ukraine and Europe, as well as the reconstruction of the country, in particular Mariupol.
This was stated by General Director Yuriy Ryzhenkov at the Made in Steel conference in Milan, Italy, the Metinvest press service reports.
He said that he shares the government's strategy for the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine, particularly the development of renewable and nuclear energy. After all, the power of nuclear energy can be used for the production of green hydrogen.
According to him, Ukraine can become a supplier of raw materials for the production of direct reduction iron (DRI) for Europe. After all, Metinvest is the largest producer of iron ore in Ukraine, and the country itself is the largest producer of iron ore products in Europe.
"A big advantage is that magnetite iron ore is mined in Ukraine, which can be enriched to the quality of DRI and HBI [hot briquetted iron - ed.] by already known technologies. All that is needed for this is energy," said Ryzhenkov.
He explained that the idea is to build DRI facilities at Metinvest enterprises in Ukraine to supply products to EU consumers.
"This, in my opinion, should become an integral part of the reconstruction of Ukraine. It is also a way to bring Ukraine closer to the EU by joining the common chain of EU products in this green steel movement," Ryzhenkov said.
According to him, the transition to green production will make steel products more competitive in the future. Such steel will have an advantage over other products, for example, aluminum or plastic.
Metinvest also intends to increase its presence in Europe at all levels. In particular, to acquire companies, as well as to build a new enterprise in Italy.
"Even if these enterprises will not work on water or renewable energy sources from the first day, they must have all the characteristics to work in a sustainable way in the future," Ryzhenkov explained.
According to him, the shareholder of Metinvest Rinat Akhmetov wants to make maximum efforts to restore Ukraine, Mariupol and steel plants Azovstal and Ilyich Iron and Steel Works. Thus, the Group became a partner of the Mariupol Reborn project.
Ryzhenkov emphasized that even before the full-scale Russian invasion, there were plans to turn the Mariupol plants into a DRI center producing "green" steel.
Earlier, EcoPolitic wrote, that in 2022, the Metinvest group of mining and metallurgical companies paid 600 million hryvnias of environmental taxes to the state and local budgets.
As EcoPolitic previously reported, in December 2021, the group of mining and metallurgical companies Metinvest and the German company SMS group with its subsidiary Paul Wurth signed a memorandum on reducing CO2 emissions during the production of iron and steel.
