CIRIC: I have no information regarding shutdown of blast furnace in Smederevo's steelworks

(Nebojsa Ciric)

Serbian Minister of Economy Nebojsa Ciric stated Monday that he had no information regarding the shutdown of the second blast furnace in Zelezara Smederevo steelworks.

- I have no such information that the second blast furnace in Smederevo's steel mill will be shut down within the next seven, ten or 20 days, or that it has already been shut down, which is absolutely not true - Ciric said to the press and told them to ask the management of Zelezara Smederevo about that.

Ciric noted that one of the two blast furnace had not been in operation since 2011, when U.S. Steel had been the owner, adding that the other blast furnace operated normally.

Ciric said that the situation in the steelworks in Smederevo was not easy, that the company was making losses every month, and that the tender procedure to find a strategic partner had been extended 90 days.

- I hope that we will manage to find a strategic partner to be either a co-owner or the majority owner of the steelworks, or a partner who could make it possible for the steel mill to operate normally - Ciric said and added that he expected that to happen in 2012.

He believes that the new government would stick to the decision to find a strategic partner for that company.

- We will not allow Zelezara Smederevo to be closed. We are looking for a partner that could work with us to ensure lower costs of production and savings through procurement of cheaper raw materials and better product placement - said Ciric.