In its Wednesday, January 9 issue the Hospodarske Noviny (HN) economic daily wrote that the Slovak state already has an offer to prevent U.S. Steel from selling its plant in Košice.
The daily broke the information that the government wants to offer electricity to the steelworks at a discount. Spokesperson of the Economy Ministry, Stanislav Jurkovič, said, as quoted by the HN, that "our effort is to find joint solutions that could change the attitude of the current shareholder regarding the sale. Due to the importance of this company and also support from the side of the state it is crucial to seek an efficient [form of] assistance".
The reduction, mainly of the interconnection fees for electricity for self-producers of power, like U.S. Steel, would be of great help. These fees increased at the start of last year based on a decision of the regulatory office. While these producers paid only a third of the fees in 2011, as of last year they paid them to the state in full.
The plan of the Economy Ministry has yet to be approved by the Finance Ministry. Economy Minister Tomáš Malatinský should negotiate the issue with Finance Minister Peter Kažimír on Wednesday, the daily wrote. U.S. Steel has not yet decided on the sale of the Košice plant. The daily has reported that the parent company is not satisfied with the prices that have been offered by potential investors. The decision might be finalised within a few weeks.
(Source: Hospodárske noviny)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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