Production restarted at Smederevo steelworks

One of the two blast furnaces at the Smederevo steel mill (Zelezara Smederevo) was put back in operation on Monday, restoring the company's production after nine months, Tanjug reports.

Minister of Finance and Economy Mladjan Dinkic, who attended the ceremony at the steel plant in Smederevo, said on that occasion that that would result in 5,300 people getting their jobs back.

Smederevo steel mill was established under the name SARTID (Serbian Joint Stock Mining and Smelting Company) in 1913.

In March 2003, it was sold to U.S. Steel for USD 23 million. Until 2012, it was a large exporter and responsible for up to 13 percent of Serbia's total exports.

However, due to losses caused by the economic crisis and a drop in the price of steel on the global market, the Serbian government bought it back from U.S. Steel in January 2012 for USD 1.