"High price for China’s investments in Serbian steel plant" 1 November 2023

In the years since the Smederevo Iron and Steel Factory was acquired by Chinese owner, the smog has grown heavier. In the morning, residents wake to everything covered in red dust and doctors say cancer rates are on the rise. Despite these alarming issues, there has still been no action from the Serbian government to monitor health conditions or limit the factory emissions...

For a long time, this area was an ideal location for growing vegetables...But due to the rising pollution from the factory, the vegetables became contaminated. The emissions from the factory contain micro particles such as lead, nickel, and cadmium, which can cause both chronic and acute diseases...

“All the children have respiratory problems. Our lives are in danger here,” [a local resident Zoran Stojanovic] said. His neighbor recently died of cancer...

…The doctor and his colleagues have repeatedly raised concerns over the significant increase of cancer cases in their area, yet there has been no formal assessment on the steel factory’s adverse health impacts...

In 2016 the Chinese firm HBIS Group (at this time called Hesteel) bought the steel and iron factory in Smederevo for 43 million USD. ... The new Chinese managers increased production levels without making the necessary investments in new technology....

…Workers have been complaining about hazardous conditions and an unsafe working environment, without receiving any constructive response. In one recent incident, a worker was killed in an accident in the factory...

Factory management say they have invested around 120 million USD to modernize the facilities. Yet their communication with the workforce and surrounding communities has been poor to nonexistent...

Nikola Krstić, director of the Smederevo-based NGO Pokret Tvrđava (meaning “fortress”) has fought for a long time to get the state agencies to disclose pollution data for the areas surrounding the steel factory–without success...

In the end of August 2023 Nikolla Kristc’s organisation formally submitted a petition to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, calling for the court to protect the health of the country’s citizens. The petition was recently dismissed. The court thought that there were still avenues left to explore in the Serbian legal system...

Just Finance International have reached out to both HBIS Group and to China’s economic attache in Belgrade with questions about the pollution but without getting any reply.