Steel Mills
Dutch Company to Manage Serbian Steel Mill Zelezara Smedervo
Written by Sandy Williams
March 20, 2015
Dutch company HPK Engineering has been awarded a 3-year management contract for Serbian steel mill Zelezara Smederevo. After nearly a year of negotiations with the Serbian government US-based Esmark was pushed out of the running for purchase and management of the state-owned steel mill.
HPK Engineering pledged to invest $20 million in the plant to start production as well as retaining the current 5000 employees and increasing salaries by 10 percent. Zelazara Smederevo has an annual production capacity of 2.2 million tons of steel but produced only around 350,000 tons in 2014. HPK pledged to double that in 2015 and show profit in six months.
“This is an important day for Zelezara Smederevo and an important day for Serbia,” said Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic.
Sandy Williams
Read more from Sandy WilliamsLatest in Steel Mills
Nucor reports IT systems breach
Nucor said it temporarily and proactively halted some production operations at various locations.
Cliffs talks DOE funding, blast furnace relining schedule
The future of two projects supported in part by funding through the Department of Energy remains uncertain.
Cleveland-Cliffs open to asset sales
Meanwhile, its Canadian operations have been hurt by the broader tariffs proposed by the United States.
As Q1 loss balloons, Cliffs pledges to cut costs, streamline operations
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. gushed red ink in the first quarter, and pledged to stem the bleeding by idling inefficient, “loss-making operations” and increasing focus on its core automotive business.
Cliffs plans to idle three mills, cut 950 jobs on ‘insufficient demand and pricing’
Cleveland-Cliffs plans to indefinitely idle its steel mill in Riverdale, Ill., as well as mills in Conshohocken, Pa., and Steelton, Pa. The Cleveland-based steelmaker said all three facilities would be idled on or around June 30. Approximately 950 jobs will be impacted, the company said.