Economy, Treasury Min. support consolidating steel mills

Both the Treasury and Economy Ministries favor consolidating steel mills as the most viable option for revitalizing the ailing sector. The two however, have not as yet worked out a comprehensive strategy for merging the mills, instead it has been left to bigger mills such as Huta Katowice and Huta Sendzimira to present their concepts. Huta Sendzimira president Piotr Janeczek proposes the merger of mills around Huta Katowice and Stalprodukt but the plan has been criticized by Huta Katowice which believes the Janeczek plan lacked the incentives for luring external investors to finance the modernization of the steel mills. Huta Katowice's concept on the other hand envisages the merging of mills along the lines of their core products, sheet metal or rolled steel products. Meanwhile, Dutch-British Corus Group which is awaiting Treasury Ministry approval to become a strategic investor in the long-products spin-off of Huta Katowice said if the Ministry does not approve the deal by the end of the year it will back out. (Puls Biznesu, page 6)