Mr. Rostyslav Shurma, director general of Zaporizhstal, said that
Metinvest, an international vertically integrated mining and metal group of companies,
could merge Zaporizhstal and Zaporizhkoks, one of the largest producers of
coke-chemical goods in Ukraine, in the long term.
Mr. Shurma said that the merger of the two companies was logical, as they
operated at one production site and were highly connected from the
technological point of view.
He said that "If we look at the structure of Zaporizhkoks, 100% of its
coke is shipped to Zaporizhstal, and around 90% of the coke consumed by
Zaporizhstal is coke from Zaporizhkoks. It's a logical and obvious issue to
merge Zaporizhstal and Zaporizhkoks".
He added that at present the issue had not been discussed in detail and no
decisions could be made earlier than in six months.
Mr. Shurma said that "I can say with confidence that the enterprises will
not merge in the coming year, but in the long-term outlook it's likely that
this will happen. However, this depends on many factors".
He said that he does not see the necessity to merge the steel mill with another
enterprise of Metinvest - Zaporizhvohnetryv, the largest manufacturer of
refractory products in Ukraine.
He added that "The refractory business is a separate business, so it's
wrong to unite it with the steel mill, and we won't do this," adding that
Zaporizhstal and Zaporizhvohnetryv have good, close cooperation: 30% to 35% of
Zaporizhvohnetryv's products are consumed by Zaporizhstal. (SteelGuru)