Steel mill to halt production over problems with supplies

SMEDEREVO - The Smederevo steel mill is set to suspend production for a minimum of three weeks over problems with deliveries of raw materials from Ukraine due to the situation there, but will use the halt to carry out scheduled overhauls, the company's financial director Bojan Bojkovic told Tanjug on Friday.

He said that the costs of halting and restarting production are considerable, but that three weeks ago, in April, the Serbian government provided funds that are fully sufficient for the steel mill to operate.

The halt in production will pose no threat to deals that have already been agreed because delivery deadlines for steel products are usually longer, Bojkovic said.

The steel mill has potential buyers for 2.5 times the amount of its steel products output, so there is no reason whatsoever to worry about future sales, he said.

The assembly and the management of the mill announced on Thursday that the plant will briefly halt production to adjust its output and pace of operations to the new conditions in the region where its raw material supplies come from, as well as to renew the loans used in 2013 and early 2014 and minimise costs.

Scheduled overhauls of the mill's main production facilities will be carried out during the halt, with operations expected to continue amid conditions similar to those in the previous business year, the statement said.

Photo Tanjug, N. Milosevic (archive)