According to unofficial sources, VSŽ Košice will buy 20 percent of shares in the Czech steel mill Trinecké Železárny (TŽ) in Trinec. The companies will sign a cooperative agreement this month. The agreement, which has already been verified, so far does not include acquiring of a stake in TŽ by VSŽ. VSŽ places only 10 percent of its output on the small Slovak market, and so it seeks other opportunities for acquisitions in other areas. The company cooperates with steel mills in Poland, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria. The mill currently exports 750,000 tons of steel to the Czech Republic annually (of that sum, 150,000 tons are supplied through other traders), but it aims to export 1 million tons of steel to the Czech Republic. Of total VSŽ rolled materials production, 68 percent were sold abroad, 18 percent in the Czech Republic and 14 percent on the domestic market.
