Zürcher Nachrichten - Chinese mill blamed for turning Serbia village red with pollution

EUR -
AED 4.033676
AFN 79.694247
ALL 98.617234
AMD 431.229234
ANG 1.965998
AOA 1006.493023
ARS 1182.064371
AUD 1.773129
AWG 1.976751
AZN 1.803031
BAM 1.955204
BBD 2.22694
BDT 134.006696
BGN 1.962189
BHD 0.413936
BIF 3278.710623
BMD 1.098195
BND 1.485506
BOB 7.621676
BRL 6.390724
BSD 1.102913
BTN 95.744085
BWP 15.645873
BYN 3.609534
BYR 21524.62428
BZD 2.215544
CAD 1.54487
CDF 3157.310812
CHF 0.938161
CLF 0.028089
CLP 1077.911441
CNY 8.071789
CNH 8.069093
COP 4724.709939
CRC 567.311506
CUC 1.098195
CUP 29.102171
CVE 110.221353
CZK 25.077271
DJF 196.401167
DKK 7.466596
DOP 68.647191
DZD 146.702391
EGP 56.515754
ERN 16.472927
ETB 145.8862
FJD 2.53167
FKP 0.860294
GBP 0.854473
GEL 3.025558
GGP 0.860294
GHS 17.013777
GIP 0.860294
GMD 79.223459
GNF 9510.263887
GTQ 8.474498
GYD 229.504607
HKD 8.525053
HNL 28.292264
HRK 7.531535
HTG 144.479177
HUF 410.288884
IDR 18619.040299
ILS 4.106091
IMP 0.860294
INR 94.737078
IQD 1439.133875
IRR 46259.782876
ISK 145.850634
JEP 0.860294
JMD 173.399298
JOD 0.77859
JPY 161.262814
KES 142.228738
KGS 95.351034
KHR 4396.832029
KMF 495.190963
KPW 988.381852
KRW 1625.338752
KWD 0.338286
KYD 0.910664
KZT 569.372526
LAK 23789.621854
LBP 99014.972077
LKR 326.365103
LRD 219.692481
LSL 21.510991
LTL 3.242685
LVL 0.664287
LYD 5.430354
MAD 10.499616
MDL 19.480493
MGA 5143.271244
MKD 61.754074
MMK 2305.669666
MNT 3859.320661
MOP 8.789762
MRU 43.653653
MUR 49.543705
MVR 16.96018
MWK 1904.94943
MXN 22.323836
MYR 4.932131
MZN 70.094334
NAD 21.510991
NGN 1721.586305
NIO 40.433948
NOK 11.782815
NPR 151.650377
NZD 1.927081
OMR 0.422799
PAB 1.098195
PEN 4.099379
PGK 4.519974
PHP 63.085709
PKR 308.269463
PLN 4.299357
PYG 8819.804202
QAR 3.997415
RON 5.009734
RSD 117.941929
RUB 94.364665
RWF 1572.318966
SAR 4.118356
SBD 9.33442
SCR 16.065901
SDG 659.12747
SEK 10.930753
SGD 1.485771
SHP 0.863009
SLE 24.99554
SLL 23028.603681
SOS 626.965599
SRD 40.229125
STD 22730.421661
SVC 9.609447
SYP 14278.65676
SZL 21.510991
THB 38.267478
TJS 11.919845
TMT 3.84155
TND 3.385104
TOP 2.657226
TRY 41.692813
TTD 7.451372
TWD 36.235934
TZS 2939.994826
UAH 45.310319
UGX 4055.911497
USD 1.098195
UYU 47.09481
UZS 14233.946829
VES 80.442708
VND 28553.589652
VUV 138.388543
WST 3.165813
XAF 660.254618
XAG 0.035196
XAU 0.000352
XCD 2.972295
XDR 0.823172
XOF 660.254618
XPF 119.331742
YER 269.853508
ZAR 21.194941
ZMK 9885.07403
ZMW 30.795921
ZWL 353.618379
  • RELX

    3.2300

    48.54

    +6.65%

  • CMSC

    0.3900

    22.6

    +1.73%

  • NGG

    2.4700

    65.21

    +3.79%

  • BTI

    0.6600

    40.21

    +1.64%

  • BCC

    8.5100

    98.44

    +8.64%

  • SCS

    0.8700

    10.61

    +8.2%

  • GSK

    0.3500

    34.48

    +1.02%

  • RIO

    3.2900

    55.61

    +5.92%

  • CMSD

    0.3700

    22.75

    +1.63%

  • RBGPF

    60.2700

    60.27

    +100%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    9.3

    +1.08%

  • JRI

    0.5200

    11.99

    +4.34%

  • AZN

    1.8600

    66.76

    +2.79%

  • VOD

    0.3900

    8.58

    +4.55%

  • BCE

    0.1300

    21

    +0.62%

  • BP

    1.7900

    27.9

    +6.42%

Chinese mill blamed for turning Serbia village red with pollution
Chinese mill blamed for turning Serbia village red with pollution / Photo: Andrej ISAKOVIC - AFP

Chinese mill blamed for turning Serbia village red with pollution

In the eight years since Chinese company HBIS bought a steel mill near the eastern Serbian city of Smederevo, locals say they have been plagued by heavy air pollution and thick red dust.

Text size:

"There are times of the day when breathing normally is impossible," said Zvezdan Veljkovic, from the village of Radinac, where the mill is based.

Radinac has become known as "red village", because everything is permanently coated in a layer of red dust. Locals say cancer cases have rocketed and that the dust contains high levels of arsenic, chromium and lead.

Dragana Milic told AFP her grandchildren don't like coming to visit her anymore. "They won't play outside," she said.

HBIS -- one of the world's largest steel producers -- bought the mill in 2016 in a high-profile deal marked by a visit from Chinese President Xi Jinping, on his last official trip to Serbia.

Xi is to arrive in Serbia on Tuesday on another official visit, one of only three countries he is flying into on his first European trip since the Covid pandemic.

China has invested billions in Serbia and neighbouring Balkan countries in recent years, with Beijing and Belgrade signing a free trade agreement last year.

But locals around Smederevo blame Chinese investment for the increased pollution.

In the three villages near the mill, residents say that they have experienced throat irritation, unpleasant smells and continual soot coating their houses, clothes and bodies.

Milic said the only thing villagers can do to protect themselves is to stay indoors.

- Cancer cases quadrupled -

The Serbian Environmental Protection Agency has ranked Smederevo repeatedly among the country's most polluted cities, classified as having "excessively polluted air".

Nikola Krstic, an activist at NGO Tvrdjava ("Fortress"), said pollution has soared since the Chinese takeover.

"We don't know the reason why... whether it's high production, technology failure, lack of maintenance or non-compliance," he said.

Tvrdjava carried out an analysis of the dust produced by the factory in 2021, together with the scientific group National Environmental Association.

The analysis, seen by AFP, found high concentrations of heavy metals including arsenic, chromium and lead, which the report warned are among "the most toxic and carcinogenic metals when present in ambient air".

"(HBIS) have saved this steel mill in economic terms, but in environmental terms they have caused great damage to this city," said Krstic.

Data from the state-run Smederevo Health Centre found a four-fold increase in cancer cases between 2011 and 2019, which activists believe is due to increased pollution.

The group filed a criminal complaint against the company in Smederevo, but it was rejected on the basis of lack of evidence.

They now plan to take their case to the European Court of Human Rights.

- Special relationship -

The steel mill employs about 5,000 people, with thousands more employed indirectly.

Once a state-owned enterprise, it was privatised in 2003 and sold to US Steel. But the American corporation pulled out in 2012 after a steel market crash, and the Serbian government bought it back for one dollar.

In April 2016, the plant was sold for 46 million euros ($49 million) to China's HBIS, heralded as a sign of the "friendship" between the two countries.

Chinese-owned companies were among Serbia's top three exporters last year -- including HBIS, whose exports topped 549 million euros.

Tomislav Momirovic, Serbia's trade minister, told state broadcaster RTS that "no other country in the region or Europe" enjoys a similar level of cooperation with China.

Smederevo is one of several big investments by Chinese companies in Serbia, including a $3.8 billion investment by Chinese state-owned company Zijin Mining near the eastern city of Bor.

Stefan Vladisavljev, of the Foundation BFPE for a Responsible Society, said claims Chinese investment "saved" Serbia are "exaggerated".

"What is true is that Chinese companies were willing to take over the management and ownership of certain industrial systems for which Serbia had no other solution," he added.

HBIS did not respond when contacted by AFP.

But earlier this year its Serbia director Vladan Mihailovic told RTS that the company plans to build a wall around its open raw material storage and construct a new processor to reduce the dust.

Milic, who has been living in Radinac for 37 years, has little hope this will solve the issue.

"I think there is no other solution" but for everyone to move, she said.

A.P.Huber--NZN