ArcelorMittal says Kryvyi Rih cannot restart operations
The company said missile strikes prevent a safe, sustainable restart at its Ukrainian steelworks, an outage that could tighten steel and iron-ore markets.
Mateo Fernandez ·
ArcelorMittal announced on September 25 that it cannot safely and sustainably restart operations at ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih after recent missile strikes, a move that could tighten steel supply.
Kryvyi Rih plant offline
The company announced the decision at 08:30 CET, saying the measure follows multiple recent missile strikes and earlier statements on August 17 and September 14. The statement did not quantify lost output or give a timetable for resumption.
The pause affects the large
integrated steelworks in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine.
If the outage persists, buyers in Europe and seaborne markets may need to seek alternative slab, billet or scrap flows, which would put upward pressure on spreads for flat steel products and feedstocks.
Secondary markets could respond before primary production recovers. Distributors and mills that rely on eastern European flows will be watching availability of imported slab and the spot market for coking coal and iron ore for signs of strain.
If operations remain suspended, by October 2, 2026 traders and purchasers will watch European domestic shipments and seaborne iron-ore cargoes as the earliest indicators of whether imports can offset the shortfall. The trajectory to watch is whether substitution of supply is rapid enough to prevent price stress in steel and upstream commodity markets.