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There is no alternative to opening the Big Odesa ports in iron ore exports. A careful optimism has appeared on the market thanks to vessels with ore that have recently left the ports, the Metinvest CEO Yuri Ryzhenkov has said.
Traditionally, Europe accounted for not less than 10% of Ukrainian iron ore products export, mostly delivered by sea, via the Pivdenniy and Chornomorsk ports.
“The closure of the ports has almost stopped plants. Now our plants operate with a 35-40% loading, while plants of our colleagues (Poltava GOK, AMKR) have even lower loading. The only way is to open the Big Odesa ports,” he said.
One of the vessels carried Metinvest ore.
“But this is a new route, which we cannot count on yet. Our Intelligence Service and Navy have been working on the route for 8 months. So it’s no wonder the ships have left. Still, there is a lot of work to do to make this route stable,” Ryzhenkov added.