The introduction of CBAM, or the EU carbon border tax, without any exceptions or delays for Ukraine starting January 1, 2026, forced the Ukrainian mining and metallurgical company ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih to completely stop supplying metal products to the European Union market, reports UAProm. This was reported by AMKR CEO Mauro Longobardo during the GMK Center roundtable “Impact of CBAM on Ukraine’s Economy and Mining & Metallurgy 2026–2030.”
According to Longobardo, the company’s European clients canceled all orders for the first quarter of 2026 after learning they would need to pay an additional CBAM charge of $60–90 per ton of products.
“In Q1 2026, we were supposed to ship about 300,000 tons of products to Europe, and these orders were completely canceled. For our plant, this is like a knockout. It’s lost scarce foreign currency, unpaid taxes and fees, and job cuts. We cannot simply replace these orders. The issue isn’t just lost time. On other markets, our products are uncompetitive due to high production costs and expensive logistics,” the AMKR CEO said.
In 2026, the company planned to export 1.25 million tons of metal products to Europe, almost half of its planned production volume. Therefore, Longobardo said, the full implementation of CBAM has already guaranteed a block on nearly half of the company’s metallurgical output in 2026.
He noted that the introduction of the carbon tax in the EU and the consequent loss of the European market caused the shutdown of the blooming mill, one of AMKR’s units producing billets for long products. Later, the company also announced the suspension of operations at the Foundry and Mechanical Plant. These decisions affected more than 3,000 AMKR employees.
Longobardo emphasized that the enterprise currently lacks the resources to immediately switch to “green” production because all funds accumulated for modernization before the full-scale war were spent covering losses caused by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. He called on the European Commission to consider the extremely difficult conditions under which Ukrainian companies operate and to revise its decision, granting Ukraine at least a three-year delay in CBAM implementation.
“ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih has already lost the European market. Lost it instantly. If Ukraine is not granted an exemption or delay, in five years Ukrainian metallurgists’ export opportunities to the EU will be permanently blocked,” said Mauro Longobardo.
According to a GMK Center study presented at the roundtable, CBAM will lead to a 2.1% decline in Ukraine’s GDP by 2030 solely due to reduced iron and steel exports (including supply chains). Analysts predict the complete cessation of exports of long products and square billets from Ukraine by 2030, a 75% reduction in pig iron exports, and a 30% decline in flat-rolled steel exports. Losses from halted exports are estimated at $1.75 billion. Losing EU export opportunities will also negatively impact supply chain cooperation between Ukrainian and European businesses, as Ukrainian billets were previously supplied to rolling mills in the EU.
