By the late 1980s the Soviet Union was the world’s largest steel producer. Its industry was built around huge integrated works, several of them founded during the industrialisation drives of the 1930s. Magnitogorsk in the southern Urals was completed in the early 1930s as a flagship of the first Five-Year Plan, and Novolipetsk followed in 1934. Post-war plants such as Cherepovets (1955) and Karaganda in Kazakhstan (1960) extended the industry further.
The collapse of the USSR in 1991 was followed by privatisation. Ownership of the major works passed to new private groups: Severstal, NLMK, MMK and Evraz in Russia, and Metinvest in Ukraine. The Karaganda works were sold to the Mittal group in 1995 and returned to Kazakh ownership in 2023. Many of these producers became major exporters of slab, billet and flat products to Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
Since 2022, the war in Ukraine and the resulting sanctions have reshaped the region’s steel industry. Metinvest lost its Mariupol works, while Russian producers were cut off from most Western markets. Ukraine is included on this page for historical continuity with the Soviet-era industry, although it withdrew from CIS institutions in 2018.
Russia
Russia. Cherepovets Steel Mill founded, 1955. Around 10 Mt in 2024, world #41.
Russia. Novolipetsk Steel Plant founded, 1934. Around 14 Mt in 2024, world #30.
Russia. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works founded, 1932. Around 11 Mt in 2024, world #39.
Russia. Formed from Soviet-era assets, 1992. Over 13 Mt a year.
Ukraine & Kazakhstan
Ukraine. Metinvest Holdings formed, 2006. Over 7 Mt a year.
Karmet (ArcelorMittal Temirtau)
Kazakhstan. Karaganda Metallurgical Plant founded, 1960. Over 4 Mt a year.
Current News
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