Italian group Danieli, a leading producer of plant equipment and machinery for the metalmaking industry, has stated that it is evaluating two locations other than Serbia for its planned new special steel mill project, worth €450-500 million. According to a press statement issued on April 5, after the signature of a memorandum of understanding with the Serbian government a final choice will hopefully be made within two to three months, while Italy will not be excluded from the range of options.
"Hope and confidence in Italy will surge once the action of [Italian Prime Minister Mario] Monti's government will be finally implemented, reducing the issues which usually discourage investment in Italy," according to the company statement. Danieli went on to say that the MoU with Serbia traces the fundamental parameters upon which the company will make its choice, namely, low energy costs, presence of infrastructures, co-funding, tax relief, tools to collaborate with local universtitites to build a specialized and qualified workforce, and, finally, fixed times for concession of permits and authorization.
Meanwhile Danieli will build a service center in the Chelyabinsk region of Russia, as reported by the government of the Chelyabinsk region. Total investments are expected to amount to €90 million, including €15 million for the first phase.
Accordingly, Danieli will build a service center with an area of 9,000 square meters, which will produce structures for metallurgical equipment.