Following Quotas Increase, Smederevo Steel Mill to Be Able to Export 30,000 Tons of Steel More per Quarter

The Smederevo steel mill, owned by the Chinese Hbis, following the redistribution of quotas for the import of steel to the EU, previously meant for Russia and Belarus, will be able to export 30,000 tons more per quarter, said the executive director for production at the company, Vladan Mihailovic.

– The quotas were implemented in 2019 and pertained to all Hbis products. This quota entails an increase in the exports of hot-rolled products, whereas the quotas for cold-rolled products and white sheet metal products have remained the same. This means that, instead of 120,000 tons, we will be able to export 150,000 tons per quarter – Mihailovic said for RTS. According to him, Hbis has a potential to increase the production.

Gas substitution and supply of raw materials the greatest concern

– We are focusing on projects in order to carry out the substitution of the expensive natural gas with the blast furnace gas which we can produce at our blast furnace. We cannot influence the prices of energy sources in the world market, but we can improve energy efficiency and substitute gas. Supply of coke coal is a big problem. We are also working with our suppliers outside Ukraine and Russia and we are trying to find new coal supply markets, as this is an important energy source for our blast furnace – Mihailovic said.

As he added, they imported around 65% of raw materials from Ukraine and Russia.

– Even before the crisis, we made a strategy for the supply of raw materials in situations of crisis. We have managed to open new directions of supply from South Africa and Australia, we are working on improving the supply from India and Brazil. The main goal are continued operations of the two blast furnaces, with fully meeting the needs of our customers – Mihailovic emphasized.

He added that the steel mill had been working with two blast furnaces since August 2021.

– Primarily due to the draconic quotas of the EU, we stopped the operations of the first blast furnace in July 2020, and then reactivated it 13 months later, adapted to the new conditions and we are satisfied with the conditions of doing business in 2021 – said Mihailovic.

Due to the quotas, he pointed out, the Smederevo steel mill had a pause in production of 13 months, and at no point have they had to stop their production activities due to Covid.

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

Železara Smederevo

HBIS GROUP Srbija

Vladan Mihailović

quotas for the import of steel to the EU

natural gas

prices of energy sources in the world market

supply of coke coal

coke coal

coke

steel

coal

import of raw materials

blast furnaces

conditions of doing business

pause in production

energy efficiency