Serbia will this week call a tender for the Smederevo-based Zelezara steel mill, as stated by Serbian economy minister, Mlađan Dinkić, in an interview with Belgrade-based daily newspaper Blic.
"Negotiations are being finalized with a big Russian company, while a deal has been reached for the state to keep a 25 percent stake in the company," Minister Dinkic stated.
The minister went on to say that the tender will be called "because there is strong interest from a big Russian company to kickstart steel production and even invest in some completely new capacities which currently do not exist at Smederevo."
Dinkić also said he expected production would be relaunched at the Smederevo plant by the end of the year.
At the end of January this year, the Serbian government bought back the Smederevo plant (then called US Steel Serbia) from Pittsburg-based US Steel for a symbolic amount of $1.