September 6 (SeeNews) - Montenegrin steelworks EPCG Zeljezara Niksic, a company set up by state-owned power utility EPCG, plans to resume steel production in the next three months, local media reported on Wednesday.
“There has been no steel production for almost three years and I hope that maybe in three months we can prepare everything for the start of production, but we need to wait first to see the budget, because without that we cannot start operations,” public broadcaster RTCG quoted the president of the trade union at EPCG Zeljezara Niksic, Ivan Vujovic, as saying.
EPCG Zeljezara Niksic currently has 290 employees and plans to hire a further 1,500 in the next 18 months, Vujovic added.
EPCG has acquired Zeljezara Niksic from Turkey's Toscelik for 20 million euro ($21.5 million) under a deal signed in December.
Toscelik bought Zeljezara Niksic in 2012 for 15.1 million euro after placing the best bid in a tender launched by the Montenegrin government. The Turkish owner suspended production at Zeljezara Niksic in March 2021, due to a drop in orders caused by the coronavirus pandemic. In September 2022, Toscelik dismissed all 229 workers from the steel mill.
($ = 0.9320 euro)