A ceremony was held late Friday in Skopje in honor of the 50th anniversary of steel production in Macedonia and the 20th anniversary of the ‘Makstil/Duferko’ company.
Addressing the event, Minco Jordanov, the Makstil’s Executive Board President and member of the Duferko Board, notified that just a few companies could celebrate a 50-year production in spite of all challenges.
The company, he said, has invested about EUR 70 million in the course of several years in its modernization and environment protection projects.
Vice Premier for Economic Affairs Koco Angjusev commended the company’s export orientation, saying that Macedonia is a small country and therefore needs a rather high export rate if it wishes for a GDP growth of 5-6 percent. Companies, he said, may consider the government as their partner.
President Gjorge Ivanov, Finance/Transport Ministers Dragan Tevdovski and Gjorgi Sugarevski respectively, businessmen, diplomats and other public figures attended the ceremony.
The company Makstil AD was established in 1997 upon privatization and reconstruction of the former Mines and Iron & Steelworks Skopje( founded in 1967) as an integrated producer of flat rolled products such as: hot rolled plates, hot rolled coils, cold rolled strips and sheets, galvanized strips and sheets and pre-painted coated strips and sheets with annual production of about 1.200.000 mt. of finished products. In the mid-1990s the various production units were divided into 10 independent entities pursuant to the decision of the Government of the Republic of Macedonia. As an independent entity out of those 10, Makstil AD runs steel slabs production with EAF steelmaking and continuous casting as well as plates production with Duferco Group as a main partner and major shareholder.
