S&P Global Commodity Insights reported that the Czech Republic's heavy plate re-roller Vítkovice Steel has notified its customers that it will pause deliveries due to impacts from the EU's sanctions against Russia, which have resulted in slab supply disruptions and as a result the quarto mill will be presumably halted for 10-12 business days & consequently, shipments of the plate will also be delayed.Vítkovice Steel informed “The round of sanctions against Russia included measures against JSC GTLK, the owner of the carrier vessels Astrol-2 and V Smyslov. The vessels carried 15,400 tonnes of slab that were supposed to be unloaded in Gdansk and Szczecin ports in Poland last weekend. The restrictions came into effect immediately, without any grace period. The vessels' captains had no other option but to turn back to their loading port, where they will be ported again and the goods will [be] re-loaded onto another, safe vessels. Even if we are doing our best to find alternative vessels with safe ownership, which is a challenge by itself due to the dynamically changing circumstances, this incident will lead to short-term raw material shortage at our plant.”Czech Republic’s Ministry of Finance’s Financial Analytical Office FAU has frozen the assets of Ostrava-based Vítkovice Steel, which is owned by supranational investment funds belonging to the countries of the former Soviet Union tracing back to Russia’s development bank VEB due to European Union sanctions against persons and entities from the Russian Federation and Belarus in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine. The company can continue to operate, run its business, pay employees and meet its business obligations to its partners, but it must not be sold or its shares transferred to another owner. Local media had reported in Mach 2022 that Vítkovice Steel shareholder control can be traced back to Russia’s development bank VEB. However, this was denied by the company’s spokesperson, who said that the owners of Vítkovice Steel are businessmen from the states of the former USSR and not Russia.Ostrava based Vítkovice Steel is a traditional European producer of rolled steel products. The company is the largest producer of steel sheets in the Czech Republic and the only producer of heavy plates & sheet piles/ The tradition of Vítkovice dates back to 1828, when Rudolf's smelter was founded, in which the first wrought iron was produced two years later. The metallurgical and engineering company Vítkovice ended its own production of pig iron in 1998 after 162 years. The last of the three blast furnaces went out on September 30, 1998.Vítkovice Steel is owned by multinational investment funds from the countries of the former Soviet Union. After the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, the company deleted the name of its current Russian owner Evraz from its name. The current Chief Financial Officer and member of the Board of Directors, Mr Radek Strouhal, became the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors on 1 January this year. He replaced Mr Dmitri Shchuk who worked in the company for more than
S&P Global Commodity Insights reported that the Czech Republic's heavy plate re-roller Vítkovice Steel has notified its customers that it will pause deliveries due to impacts from the EU's sanctions against Russia, which have resulted in slab supply disruptions and as a result the quarto mill will be presumably halted for 10-12 business days & consequently, shipments of the plate will also be delayed.Vítkovice Steel informed “The round of sanctions against Russia included measures against JSC GTLK, the owner of the carrier vessels Astrol-2 and V Smyslov. The vessels carried 15,400 tonnes of slab that were supposed to be unloaded in Gdansk and Szczecin ports in Poland last weekend. The restrictions came into effect immediately, without any grace period. The vessels' captains had no other option but to turn back to their loading port, where they will be ported again and the goods will [be] re-loaded onto another, safe vessels. Even if we are doing our best to find alternative vessels with safe ownership, which is a challenge by itself due to the dynamically changing circumstances, this incident will lead to short-term raw material shortage at our plant.”Czech Republic’s Ministry of Finance’s Financial Analytical Office FAU has frozen the assets of Ostrava-based Vítkovice Steel, which is owned by supranational investment funds belonging to the countries of the former Soviet Union tracing back to Russia’s development bank VEB due to European Union sanctions against persons and entities from the Russian Federation and Belarus in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine. The company can continue to operate, run its business, pay employees and meet its business obligations to its partners, but it must not be sold or its shares transferred to another owner. Local media had reported in Mach 2022 that Vítkovice Steel shareholder control can be traced back to Russia’s development bank VEB. However, this was denied by the company’s spokesperson, who said that the owners of Vítkovice Steel are businessmen from the states of the former USSR and not Russia.Ostrava based Vítkovice Steel is a traditional European producer of rolled steel products. The company is the largest producer of steel sheets in the Czech Republic and the only producer of heavy plates & sheet piles/ The tradition of Vítkovice dates back to 1828, when Rudolf's smelter was founded, in which the first wrought iron was produced two years later. The metallurgical and engineering company Vítkovice ended its own production of pig iron in 1998 after 162 years. The last of the three blast furnaces went out on September 30, 1998.Vítkovice Steel is owned by multinational investment funds from the countries of the former Soviet Union. After the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, the company deleted the name of its current Russian owner Evraz from its name. The current Chief Financial Officer and member of the Board of Directors, Mr Radek Strouhal, became the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors on 1 January this year. He replaced Mr Dmitri Shchuk who worked in the company for more than
