Coke delivered to Zelezara Smederevo - Blast furnace to be fired up in second half of April

The first shipment of coke from Hungary was delivered Wednesday to Zelezara Smederevo steelworks in line with the Serbian government's plan for restarting production at that steel mill, said Sasa Colic of the ASNS trade union.

Colic told the press that the blast furnace at the steelworks in Smederevo was expected to be fired up in the second half of April, adding that about 20,000 tonnes of steel should be produced by the end of that month.

A total of 2,320 tonnes of coke arrived in the Smederevo port, which is enough to produce 117,000 tonnes of steel panels - slabs.

Pellets from Ukraine and coke from Lukovac are expected to arrive next week.

As Colic said, it takes about 150,000 tonnes of ore, 45,000 tonnes of coke, 15,000 tonnes of carbon dust and pellets to produce 100,000 tonnes of slabs.

Zelezara Smederevo draws funds from commercial banks every day to finance production and purchase raw materials, Colic noted.