Italian group Danieli, a world-leading producer of equipment and machinery for the metalmaking industry, is said to be on the verge of signing a deal with the Serbian government for a major investment in the country, as reported by Serbian newspaper Blic today, March 22.
The newspaper reports comments made on March 21 by Serbian President Boris Tadic, who said that talks were now in their final stages with a company operating in the steel industry, and that a deal would guarantee Serbia annual exports of between €750 million and €1 billion. Blic stated that the company in question is Danieli.
Danieli, which employs about 10,000 workers worldwide, had announced in the last quarter of 2011 its goal of commissioning a special steel production site in Europe, with the option of a site in Serbia looking like one the most concrete one. As reported by SteelOrbis, Danieli CEO Gianpietro Benedetti had confirmed the rumors and stated that a final decision on the issue would be made by the end of the first half of 2012.
Meanwhile, Italian plantmaker Danieli plans to construct a new engineering plant in the Nizhny Novgorod region of Russia and to invest around €80-100 million in the project, according to Russian media reports. The new Russian plant Danieli-Volga will produce metallurgical equipment. The first phase of the plant will be commissioned in May 2013. Three years after the launch of the first phase the company will take a decision on the implementation of the second phase of the project. The new mill is expected to create around 1,200 new jobs.