Ukraine's Metinvest urges authority to reopen ports promptly
Metinvest Group, a vertically integrated group of steel and mining companies in Ukraine, urged the authority to pay efforts to reopen the ports, which can benefit grain and steel exports. Also, it could make Ukraine earn up to US$600 million in monthly foreign currency proceeds.
Both Azovstal and Ilyich Steel, which belong to Metinvest Group's enterprises in Mariupol and account for 40% of Ukrainian steel production, were destroyed by the Russia-Ukraine war, and they withdrew their operation in Ukraine.
Before the war, 80% of Ukraine's steel products were exported to foreign countries. Among them, 70% of steel products were shipped through seaports.
There are some alternative ways to deliver the products, such as railway and river port. However, these ways faced the difficulty of significantly increasing railroad tariffs and additional costs for the delivery of products to EU ports.
