Influence of the coronavirus epidemic on the development of Russian steel industry

Abstract

The coronavirus infection pandemic, which began in 2020, became a serious challenge for the world economics. The steel sector as an important part of the modern industry, to the full extent suffered from all the problems and restrictions, resulted from COVID-19 virus spreading. The epidemic made the production and economic activity of Russian Federation steel industry enterprises significantly complicated: the current cost increased, the operation cost also increased. Besides, implementation of investment programs and organization of technical maintenance of import facilities became more complicated, since foreign specialists could not come quickly at the site and start working. Particular problems in the production area were related to the team organization of the process: as soon as a member of a team got ill by coronavirus, the whole team had to be suspended and directed to two-weeks quarantine. However, despite the significant problems, the actual situation in the domestic steel industry by results of 2020 turned out to be somewhat better than in other industries of Russia and in the world. This effect was contributed by existence of developed corporate culture of metallurgical companies, as well as beforehand digital transformation of business-processes and the transfer to application of the newest information and communication technologies. Besides, in steel industry there is a perspective of developing by-product production of means of individual protection, medical gases etc. New directions of business activity can be qualified as social responsibility of the business, contributing to the growth of a company reputation capital. Besides, it gives a chance to preserve a part of jobsites, released as a result of digitalization and automation of production processes.