Serbia will try to avert the closure of local steel producer US Steel Serbia despite its poor financial results, Serbian government officials stated on January 24, according to media reports.
Speaking on the issue, Serbia's deputy prime minister Verica Kalanovic stated that the Serbian government will set up a special team that will offer an action plan to help Pittsburgh-based US Steel continue production and maintain its workforce of over 5,000 at its Serbian facility at Smederevo.
"The government cannot silently watch the shutting down of such a big system that is so important for thousands of its workers, the town and the state," Kalanovic said, indicating that Serbia would help by covering some of the plant's losses with funds from the state budget. Some Serbian media reports have even suggested that the state may be willing to buy back the plant from US Steel.
US Steel Serbia, which had an export value of $35 million (€27 million) in 2010, is considering switching off the second of the two blast furnaces in Smederevo due to increasing losses against the background of the global economic crisis. Operating currently at far bellow its annual output capacity of 2.4 million mt, the Smederevo plant registered a loss of $73 million (€56 million) in January-September 2011.
A decision on the plant's future is likely to be made in Pittsburg by January 31.