The Pokrovsk mine, the last in Ukraine where coking coal for the metallurgical industry was mined, has halted operations due to the approaching front line. This jeopardizes the entire industry.
The Pokrovske mine management in the Donetsk region ceased operations at the end of December 2024 – beginning of January 2025. The reason is the advance of Russian troops and constant shelling, which made further mining impossible. Some of the equipment was successfully evacuated.
The shutdown of the mine was a severe blow for the 2,000 remaining employees. Despite initial management promises to transfer them to other enterprises and exemption from mobilization, these guarantees were never fulfilled. People were left without jobs and benefits, finding themselves in a situation where they have to survive without means of subsistence and hide from military mobilization.
The Pokrovske mine was the only one in Ukraine where coking coal—a key raw material for steel production—was mined. Over 90% of Ukrainian metallurgy relies on coke produced from this coal.
Now, all needs will have to be met through purchases from abroad (primarily from the USA, Poland, and Australia). This puts Ukraine in a position of being even more dependent on its partners.
Imported coal is more expensive. It will add about $50 to the cost of each ton of steel, further reducing the industry’s already negative profitability. Industry experts predict that steel production in 2025 will fall by almost half—from 6 to 3.5 million tons. This threatens a loss of $5 billion in foreign exchange earnings.
In the long term, a way out of the crisis could be a transition to electric arc furnaces that run on scrap metal. However, such modernization requires billions in investments and, according to expert estimates, will take from 5 to 10 years. For Ukrainian metallurgy, which is operating under wartime conditions and financial losses, this is currently unattainable.
Back in October 2024, The Economist noted: “In a September interview with Forbes, Metinvest’s CEO Yuriy Ryzhenkov said that even if Pokrovsk were to be surrendered, the company would still be able to procure some coking coal domestically, but the rest would in any case have to be imported, making Ukrainian steel too expensive for some markets.”
Thus, the shutdown of the Pokrovsk mine is a severe blow to one of Ukraine’s key export industries. In the coming years, the metallurgical sector will be entirely dependent on expensive imports, sharply reducing its competitiveness on the world market.
