2024-09-13T14:59:00+03:00 Economy 2024-09-24T04:00:02+03:00

Ukrainian news

Ingulets Mining and Processing Plant suspends work due to high cost of electricity

Ingulets Mining and Processing Plant suspends work due to high cost of electricity

The Ingulets Mining and Processing Plant (Ingulets GOK; Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk Region, part of the Metinvest Group) has not been working for several months due to the high cost of electricity and logistics.

The Director General of the Metinvest Group, Yurii Ryzhenkov, said this in an interview with Forbes Ukraine, the Ukrainian News agency reports.

According to him, according to the government's decision, the company must import 80% of electricity from consumption to avoid blackouts, while earlier this quota was 30%.

At the same time, it is extremely important for the company to avoid sudden shutdowns for safety reasons and due to the possibility of equipment damage.

According to Ryzhenkov, the company often pays more for the crossing than for the electricity itself, that is, it overpays at least twice.

"The problem is that auctions for access to the crossing are sensational, as large consumers have to buy 80% of their consumption. The greater the competition for the crossing, the more you have to pay for it," he said.

Also, according to Ryzhenkov, these auctions are daily, that is, it is impossible to buy a crossing for a month, half a year or a year and have predictability, so when entering the auction, the company buys the crossing at any price, since the alternative to overpayment is a stop.

"We have repeatedly drawn the attention of the country's leadership to this problem. I hope the Ministry of Energy will hear us. We need long-term contracts. In the EU, you have predictability for months. In Ukraine - for a day," he noted.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, in the first half of the year, Metinvest increased its profit by 3.8 times to USD 179 billion.

The Ingulets Mining and Processing Plant is the largest producer of iron ore concentrate in Ukraine.

The main shareholders of the Metinvest Group are the SCM Group (71.24%) and the Smart-Holding Group (23.76%).

100% of SCM shares belong to businessman Rinat Akhmetov, Smart-Holding is controlled by Vadym Novinsky.