OREANDA-NEWS. April 7, 2011. Metinvest (“the Company”), the international vertically integrated mining and steel group of companies, today announced its plans to increase efficiency of its Yenakiieve Iron and Steel Works (Yenakiieve Steel) by improving the production site administration and management. The planned steps, taken within the frame of Metinvest’s ongoing continuous improvements, reconstruction and production modernisation programme are expected to result in growing margins of Yenakiieve Steel due to increased share of finished products from Makiivka Steel rolling mills. Simultaneous optimisation of Yenakiieve Steel rolling capacity and streamlining of production and management processes at both sites will enable the Company to considerably reduce its overhead and production costs.

Metinvest has set up a taskforce of the best steel makers and managers following the integration of Makiivka Iron and Steel Works (Makiivka Steel) into Metinvest Group in October 2010. The taskforce’s key objective was to find the most efficient model of the Makiivka Steel rolling capacities integration into the existing supply chain. The new model will improve Yenakiieve Steel efficiency through complementing the existing product range with Makiivka Steel products.

Alexander Pogozhev, Director of Steel and Rolled Products Division at Metinvest, commented: “We have all the prerequisites to successfully implement the integration and significantly increase efficiency of our production facilities. First of all, our plants’ favourable geographical locations allow to almost fully cover raw materials need of Makiivka Steel with supplying billets from Yenakiieve Steel. As a result of the integration, almost 100% of the continuous cast billets from Yenakiieve Steel, constituting over half of its merchant products volume, will be fed into rolling mills 390 and 150 at Makiivka Steel.

We are also planning to optimise the in-house rolling facilities of Yenakiieve Steel. Steel casting and rolling capacities will be managed in a more efficient way. Joint efforts of the specialists from both production sites will enable a faster facility development and allow us to produce new types of finished rolled products made of carbon, high carbon and low alloyed grades of steel.”

The reorganization of the companies does not envisage changes in legal status of the enterprises.