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Mittal Steel Skopje uses EBRD loan to improve energy efficiency
€25 million loan helps reduce emissions, provides working capital
Mittal Steel Skopje, owner of two steel rolling mills in FYR Macedonia, will
use a €25 million loan from the EBRD to help improve energy efficiency,
provide the company with working capital and help further promote regional
integration of the steel industry.
The company will use the loan to improve energy efficiency components such as
rehabilitating the pusher furnaces, and switching from oil firing to natural
gas in the hot-rolling mill, significantly reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
The working capital will help purchase semi-finished steel products for
re-rolling, a core element of the business’s development.
Olivier Descamps, head of the EBRD’s banking team for southern and eastern
Europe and the Caucasus, said a major side effect of large industrial plants –
especially in the EBRD region – is their impact on the environment. With this
loan, Mittal Steel Skopje is showing its commitment to supporting not only a
cleaner environment, especially by enhancing energy efficiency at the plant,
but also improving local communities, he said.
The rolling mills were purchased by the Mittal Steel Company, the world’s
largest steel company, in 2004 from Balkan Steel, which at the time had
commercial and financial difficulties that led to huge debt and the virtual
suspension of operations at the plants.
Since taking over these companies, Mittal Steel Skopje has revived a crucial
part of the economy that otherwise remained stagnant, and now employs 1,000
people at the plant. The project will also promote the mills cross-border
integration with Mittal’s other Balkan operations, primarily in Romania and
Bosnia and Herzegovina.
With its headquarters in Skopje, capital city of FYR Macedonia, Mittal Steel
Skopje is of one the largest steel product manufacturers in the Balkans
offering, among other products, hot rolled coils and sheets, coil rolled coils
and sheets, and pre-painted coils for panelling, roofing and metallic
structures.
“Following our acquisition of Balkan Steel, we were determined to improve
environmental and safety practices, and to turn this into a successful steel
company,” said Hans Kerkhoven, CFO Mittal Steel Europe. The EBRD is a partner
for us in Skopje, and by working with the Bank, we will achieve our
objectives,” he added.
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