US Steel seeking help

The economic daily Hospodárske noviny informed that U. S. Steel Kosice had taken a desperate move amid the shortage of iron ore imported from Ukraine. The steelmaker turned to the economy ministry asking for help and Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini contacted the office of the Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. The factory was forced to shut down temporarily one of its furnaces due to late iron ore deliveries. Vast works on the reconstruction of the Ukrainian railways are the reason for delayed deliveries to U. S. Steel Kosice as well as Trinecké Železiarne. The cargo trains heading to the West are late or do not set off at all. The steelmaker from Kosice is not commenting on this shortage. "We do not provide any information on our business partners or particular contracts. We can confirm, however, that we are ready to provide our customers with the products and fulfil our contracts on time," a spokesman for U. S. Steel Kosice Jan Baca said. "Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini sent a letter to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on May 25 asking for help and support in seeking possible solutions to assure the smooth supply of strategic raw material to the Slovak Republic," said a spokesman for the ministry, Maroš Stano.