Zelezara Smederevo to Export Nearly 30% More Steel Thanks to Increase in Quotas

The steel mill in Smederevo (Zelezara Smederevo), which is owned by the Chinese company Hesteel, will be able to export 29.4% more steel to the market of the EU states following Brussels’ decision on the increase of quotas, said the head of the Department of Metallurgical Engineering at the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy in Belgrade, Nenad Radovic.

He said for Beta that Zelezara would be able to export around 150,000 tons a year, instead of 120,000.

– That is a considerable increase in the possibility of export of the standard range of products of the Hot-Rolled Strip Factory at the steel mill – Radovic said.

The European Commission has adopted the new Decree which redistributes the quotas for the import of steel to the EU which were previously meant for Russia and Belarus, whereby the quotas for the export of certain kinds of steel have been increased for Serbia.

The export of steel from Serbia to the EU has been limited by quotas for several years now, although there is the Free Trade Agreement with the EU states.

According to the Decree, the specific quota for Category 1 has been increased, whereas for the categories 3A, 3B, 7, 12, 13, 16, 19, 21, 24, 25B, 26, 27 and 28, the residual quotas have been increased.

Radovic said that the most important thing was that the specific quota for Category 1 had been increased, whereas for other categories Serbia, in a group with other countries, could not see the amounts of the increases from that document.

He added that it should be kept in mind that the capacity of the Smederevo steel mill was around two million tons of steel a year and that the allowed quotas were lower several times than the production capacities.

He said that there was a possibility of Metalfer from Sremska Mitrovica exporting a certain quantity of steel for concrete reinforcement in line with that Decree too.

Certain experts have estimated that the increase of the quotas has been allowed due to the reduced production at German steel mills as a consequence of expensive electricity.

HBIS GROUP Iron & Steel d.o.o. Beograd

Tehnološko metalurški fakultet Beograd

Železara Smederevo d.o.o.

Metalfer d.o.o. Sremska Mitrovica

Hesteel

Železara Smederevo

Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy in Belgrade

European Commission

Metalfer Sremska Mitrovica

Nenad Radović

export of steel

quotas for the export of steel

Valjaonica toplo valjanih traka

Hot Rolled Strip Factory

Free Trade Agreement

concrete reinforcement