Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic met with HBIS Group chairman Liu Jian in Beijing last week, with Vucic reaffirming his support for joint projects in green energy and low-carbon production, Kallanish learns from media reports.
Vucic noted that the modernisation of the Smederevo steel plant, acquired by HBIS in 2016, has benefited the Serbian economy and strengthened cooperation between the two countries. He pledged further support for environmental initiatives at the plant, according to China Daily.
Liu Jian, in turn, thanked the Serbian side for its continued support and stated that the HBIS Serbia project will continue to develop with a focus on green technologies and production modernisation.
The two sides acknowledged the progress of the Chinese-Serbian joint laboratory on green steel, established as part of the Belt and Road Initiative and operating jointly with the University of Belgrade. It has already achieved results in hydrogen metallurgy, including processing ore into direct-reduced iron (DRI) with 99.74% efficiency, as well as developing high-strength steels for the automotive industry, the media report noted.
In January, Serbia introduced a six-month quota scheme for imports of certain steel products. The country has passed new laws on greenhouse gas emissions and carbon-intensive import taxes, which came into force from 1 January. Both levies will be at a rate of €4/tonne ($4.66/t) of CO2 equivalent.
This is the country’s answer to and equivalent of the European Union’s recently implemented Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). The proposal of the commission to increase tariffs on imported steel will directly impact the Chinese-owned steel plant in the country – HBIS Group Serbia Iron & Steel.
HBIS can produce about 2.2 million t/year of steel with its two furnaces, while No.1 alone has a capacity of about 900,000t/y. Its product range comprises hot and cold rolled coil, pickled coil and electrolytic tinplate.
Serbia’s production of crude steel was down 23.7% year-on-year at 388,200t in January-April, according to wordlsteel data.
