Austrian Steel Maker Voestalpine Starts Construction of 18 Mln Euro Steel Service Centre in Romania

The new facility, which will carry out high-precision cutting of sheet metal, will become operational in 2009, voestapline group’s spokesman and media service officer Peter Schiefer told SeeNews by phone from Germany.

A year ago, the company announced it plans to build a steel service centre in the Romanian Danube city of Giurgiu as part of its expansion into the fast growing markets of southeastern Europe.

In Romania the company also operates plants for steel tubes and rail switches.

Last month voestalpine said it was delaying a decision to build a steel plant in the Black Sea region until next year due to the global financial turmoil.

Voestalpine has said it is considering building a plant for flat steel products with a 5.5 million tonne capacity in either Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey or Ukraine as part of growth options in its steel division.

Bulgaria’s Economy Minister Petar Dimitov has recently quoted a cost estimate of around five billion euro for the plant.

($=0.7883 euro)