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Zaporizhstal

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Zaporizhstal
TypePJSC
ISINUA4000071435 Edit this on Wikidata
IndustryFerrous metallurgy
Founded1933
Headquarters
Zaporizhzhia
,
Ukraine
Key peopleOleksandr Myronenko (CEO)[1]
ProductsCast iron, steel, cold-rolled sheets
Revenue72,014,156,000 hryvnia (2025) Edit this on Wikidata
Total assets94,284,652,000 hryvnia (2025) Edit this on Wikidata
Number of employees
8,569 (2023) Edit this on Wikidata
ParentMetinvest
Websitewww.zaporizhstal.com

The Zaporizhstal Iron and Steel Works (Ukrainian: Запорізький металургійний комбінат «Запоріжсталь») is a steel mill based in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. It was founded in 1933 and later became the country's fourth-largest steel maker, up until operations were stopped in 2026 due to the ongoing Russian war.

In August 2026, the steelworks was shut down indefinitely, as a result of damage caused by Russian ballistic missile strikes.[2][3] The plants facilities had been hit on 11 and 27 August 2026, resulting in the death of eight workers, and twenty six injured.[4][5] Blast furnaces, coking facilities, power and rail infrastructure were critically damaged.[6][7]

Ownership

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The 1958 post stamp "Pioneers of the Soviet Industry"

After the collapse of the USSR and the independence of Ukraine, the mill fell into the hands of the Ukrainian government. When privatization began in the mid-1990s, Vasily Khmelnytsky, an ambitious politician-turned-businessman, was named manager of the state's stake in the plant, and subsequently engineered the insider sale of many shares of the plant to his own investment company.[8]

The Ukrainian government began offering shares in Zaporizhstal in cash auctions in 1999. By 2001, Vasyl Khmelnytsky and a consortium led by the Midland Group controlled 93% of the mill.[8] According to court documents, the Midland Group sold its 50% stake in 2009 to then-independent investment bank Troika Dialog following a bidding war that included other Zaporizhstal shareholders.[9] However, The Wall Street Journal reports that the mill was sold in an offshore transaction that included five separate companies and was financed by Russian state-owned Vnesheconombank.[10][11] It's unclear how this reporting relates to the UK court record of the sale to Troika.

A Ukrainian holding company, Metinvest, eventually became full owners of the mill in 2013.[12]

Production

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One of seven 500-ton capacity open hearth furnaces at the steel plant, pictured in 2012

In 2003, the company produced 4.3 million tonnes of raw steel (market share of 12%) and 3.6 million tonnes of finished steel products (11% share). Exports, delivered to 59 countries, accounted for 70% of Zaporizhstal's 2003 sales, with China, Middle Eastern states and the CIS among the main destinations. In 2015, the company has made 3.81 million tonnes of cast iron, 3.98 million tonnes of steel, 3.35 million tonnes of rolled steel.

At one point,[when?] the plant had an annual capacity of 4.5 million tonnes of steel, 3.3 million tonnes of pig iron, and 4.1 million of finished steel products, and ranked 54th in the world. The company was Ukraine's only manufacturer of cold-rolled sheets, used in car manufacturing, as well as tinplates and polished stainless and alloyed steel. Zaporizhstal is located in the city of Zaporizhzhia, in a region with the highest per capita electricity output in Ukraine, close to raw material suppliers and steel consumers (pipe and machine building companies).

Zaporizhstal was particularly notable for its continued use of open hearth furnaces, a now archaic method of production.[13] The mill has four blast furnances, seven open hearth furnaces and one twin hearth furnace.[14]

In August 2026, the steelworks was shut down indefinitely, as a result of damage caused by Russian ballistic missile strikes.[2][3] The plants facilities had been hit on 11 and 27 August 2026, resulting in the death of eight workers, and twenty six injured.[4][5] Blast furnaces, coking facilities, power and rail infrastructure were critically damaged.[6][7] Further factors that contributed to the shutdown of the plant were the breakdown of rail and shipping, as well as the negative effect of the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism on the Ukrainian steel industry.[15]

By September 2026, production had fully stopped indefinitely, after several blast furnaces were severely damaged by missile attacks.[16]

Directors

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Awards

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  • Order of Lenin
  • Order of the October Revolution

See also

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References

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  1. ↑ "Ownership structure of PJSC "ZAPORIZHSTAL"". opendatabot.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2023-03-15.
  2. 1 2 "The perfect storm: Ukrainian iron and steel companies face widespread shutdowns". GMK. 2026-09-03. Retrieved 2026-09-11.
  3. 1 2 "Ukraine's steel production declines to the lowest level of the year following the Zaporizhstal attack". Steel Radar. Retrieved 2026-09-11.
  4. 1 2 "Zaporizhstal managed to produce 46.2 thousand tonnes of steel вefore it was forced to shut down due to shelling in August". GMK. 2026-09-07. Retrieved 2026-09-11.
  5. 1 2 ricardo (2026-08-30). "New Russian attack damages production infrastructure at Metinvest's Zaporizhstal - EUROMETAL". Retrieved 2026-09-11.
  6. 1 2 Papuna, Viktoriia. "Russian Strikes Devastate Metinvest's Zaporizhstal Factory, Epicentr Mall in Zaporizhzhia". www.kyivpost.com. Archived from the original on 2026-08-18. Retrieved 2026-09-11.
  7. 1 2 "Підприємства Метінвесту в Запоріжжі зазнали терористичної атаки: є загиблі та поранені". metinvestholding.com. Retrieved 2026-09-11.
  8. 1 2 Brown, Heidi; Vardi, Nathan (28 Mar 2005). "Man of Steel". Forbes. New York, NY. Archived from the original on March 13, 2005. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  9. ↑ Luxe Holding Ltd v Midland Resources Holding Ltd, HC10C01784 (Royal Courts of Justice 23 July 2010).
  10. ↑ Barry, Rob; Stewart, Christopher; Forrest, Brett (17 May 2017). "Russian State-Run Bank Financed Deal Involving Trump Hotel Partner". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  11. ↑ Protess, Ben; Kramer, Andrew E.; McIntire, Mike (5 June 2017). "Bank at Center of U.S. Inquiry Projects Russian 'Soft Power'". The New York Times. p. A1. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  12. ↑ Interfax-Ukraine (29 May 2013). "Metinvest buys Zaporizhstal for $750 million". Kyiv Post. Kyiv, Ukraine. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  13. ↑ "Zaporizhstal Iron and Steel Works". Archived from the original on 2024-01-04. Retrieved 2024-10-17.
  14. ↑ "About us".
  15. ↑ "Інформаційний дайджест Запоріжсталі 04.09.2026". sway.cloud.microsoft. Retrieved 2026-09-11.
  16. ↑ Fabrice Deprez (2026-09-20). "Russia's new air campaign seeks to destroy Ukrainian economy". Financial Times. Earlier this month, ballistic missile strikes disabled Ukraine's three major remaining steel plants in the industrial heartlands of the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions, killing 17 workers and threatening an industry that helped drive the country's growth for decades after independence. Two ballistic missiles struck the Zaporizhzhia site again on Thursday, the fourth attack against the steel plant in less than a month. "As of today, [Ukraine] doesn't have a steel industry any more," Oleksandr Vodoviz, head of the chief executive's office at Metinvest, a steel and mining company that owns two of the three plants targeted in the recent attacks, told the FT. "They knew everything about the plant, they knew exactly where to hit," Vodoviz said. Ballistic missiles targeted the blast furnaces at the three plants, including two owned by Metinvest and an ArcelorMittal factory in Zelenskyy's native city of Kryvyi Rih. Metinvest and ArcelorMittal said the factories — which together made up 90 per cent of the country's steel output — were now idle. "Right now we do not understand how long it will take to make the repairs, days, weeks, months or years," said Vodoviz. He said the shutdown of the plants, which together have more than 15,000 workers, could have major knock-on effects "and a huge impact on taxes".
  17. ↑ "Сменился гендиректор "Запорожстали", новым руководителем назначен Мироненко вместо Шурмы". Интерфакс-Украина (in Russian). 2019-11-25. Retrieved 2019-11-27.
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