ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih on brink of financial crisis - chief financial officer

"It is the first time during 12 years when there is a threat of financial crisis to the company. The reason is evident - dramatic drop in production output. Initially it was caused by stoppage of half of BOF converters, then failed attempt to restart BF-9 after capital repair, and finally the recent actions of our railmen. They supported their colleagues from Ukrzaliznytsia in their protest and it resulted in almost complete stoppage of the plant," Plichko said.

According to him, the payment of salaries for June is already in question.

"It all depends on whether we can stabilize production till the end of May and achieve acceptable cash flow, allowing us to continue our business operation," Plichko said.

He noted that the company had already finished the month of April with a negative cash flow of more than UAH 600 million. As for the month of May, by our preliminary estimates, the financial losses will make over UAH 1.5 billion approximately. In total, the two-month loss will exceed over UAH 2.1 billion, which is a threat for further financing of our on-going operations," he said, adding:"We are now at the line and if it is crossed, the processes will be irreversible."

Earlier, the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine, referring to the head of the primary cell of the Independent Trade Union of Miners of Ukraine, Yuriy Samoilov, announced that on Tuesday, May 16, first-shift workers of the railway unit at ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih stopped working due to non-observance of safe working conditions. They refused to use faulty equipment, and this actually paralyzed the work of the entire enterprise.

ArcelorMittal said that the strike was illegal and that failures in the work of the units triggered by the strike posed a real threat to the explosion of gas pipelines.

op