On Wednesday, December 5, a delegation of experts from Russian firm Čermet is expected to visit the state-owned Smederevo steel mill in Serbia (formerly US Steel Serbia) in order to analyze the state of the plant for the potential buyer UralVagonZavod, Serbian news agency Novosti has reported. The visiting delegation is expected to remain in Smederevo until Friday, December 7.
The announcement of the visit was made by Mile Gujaničić, president of the Independent Trade Union of the Smederevo steelworks, who highlighted that there is no guarantee of a final agreement with the Russian industrial group.
Čermet is one of the leading Russian research centers for metallurgical technology and new materials. The company performs auditing services, analytical reviews for the steel sector, and market research.
As previously reported by SteelOrbis, the current tender for the purchase of Smederevo steel mill will expire on December 26. Meanwhile, according to informal sources, UralVagonZavod aims at private negotiatons with the Serbian government in order to close the deal for a symbolic figure.
UralVagonZavod is an important Russian industrial group operating in the field of military vehicles (tanks constitute 20 percent of its production), rail cars, excavators, tractors and metallurgical products.