Kyiv Post reported that ArcelorMittal Kriviy Rih, Ukraine's biggest steel producer, has won postponement of a number of its investment commitments under an agreement with the State Property Fund that amends the terms of the steelmaker privatization tender.

According to the report, the amendments will remain in effect for the duration of the global financial crisis.

Mr Yuriy Nikitin the head of the contract department at the State Property Fund said that the amendments are temporary. He said that “The Fund will quarterly monitor the main production indicators for the enterprise and relevant indicators on the global steel market for comparison with their levels in the second half of 2005, at the time the company was sold. As soon as they are comparable, "the amendments will lose effect."

Mr Jean Jouet CEO of ArcelorMittal Kriviy Rih said "Major investment in increasing capacity has been postponed. The long term vision remains unchanged, but there is a need to prioritize."

ArcelorMittal Kriviy Rih specializes in long products, in particular rebar and wire rod. In 2008 the company reduced output by 23.9% YoY to 5.406 million tonnes for commercial roll, 23.1% YoY to 6.233 million tonnes for steel, 21.9% YoY to 5.632 million tonnes for pig iron and 19.7% YoY to 9.619 million tonnes for sinter. The coke-chemical division reduced coke production 12.5% YoY to 2.635 million tonnes and the iron ore division cut output of ore concentrate 8.2% YoY to 7.782 and iron ore extraction 19.2% YoY to 1.599 million tonnes.

Mittal Steel acquired 93.02% of Kryvorizhstal in an open tender on October 24, 2005, after which the enterprise was renamed Mittal Steel Kriviy Rih and later, ArcelorMittal Kriviy Rih.

(Sourced from Kyiv Post)