Mauro Longobardo, CEO of metallurgical giant ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, said that the company is recovering from the losses of the previous two years but has not yet broken even. In 2024, the plant lost more than $50M due to the war and had no choice but to change the geography of the company’s sales significantly.
“Europe is now our accessible market and is becoming one of our main markets,” he said.
Longobardo emphasized the need for European integration. However, because of the war, the company will not be able to immediately comply with all EU regulations after its end. All strategic investments already include the necessary production adjustments. The annual wartime investment that is required to support the company’s operation is $150-180M.
He believes introducing the European Cross-Border Carbon Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) in January 2026 will undermine the company’s survivability, as it threatens to remove the EU from the list of potential sales market. Therefore, Longobardo believes that Ukrainian metallurgical companies should be temporarily exempted from financial obligations under CBAM.