Dubai Telegraph - Chinese mill blamed for turning Serbia village red with pollution

EUR -
AED 3.938479
AFN 73.284283
ALL 98.19234
AMD 417.267449
ANG 1.943348
AOA 978.447316
ARS 1071.53141
AUD 1.629089
AWG 1.930079
AZN 1.82711
BAM 1.955647
BBD 2.17713
BDT 128.849948
BGN 1.9562
BHD 0.406468
BIF 3183.551653
BMD 1.072266
BND 1.425189
BOB 7.467417
BRL 6.152562
BSD 1.078316
BTN 90.972903
BWP 14.300884
BYN 3.528725
BYR 21016.42052
BZD 2.17343
CAD 1.49386
CDF 3073.115756
CHF 0.939162
CLF 0.03726
CLP 1028.119797
CNY 7.698019
CNH 7.63378
COP 4640.937963
CRC 551.556973
CUC 1.072266
CUP 28.415058
CVE 110.256399
CZK 25.259812
DJF 192.015021
DKK 7.459869
DOP 64.934934
DZD 142.958848
EGP 52.835878
ERN 16.083995
ETB 133.503285
FJD 2.399951
FKP 0.820465
GBP 0.830088
GEL 2.916983
GGP 0.820465
GHS 17.683621
GIP 0.820465
GMD 76.671173
GNF 9295.27488
GTQ 8.33535
GYD 225.592402
HKD 8.336174
HNL 27.205878
HRK 7.386875
HTG 141.888931
HUF 407.236454
IDR 16786.168917
ILS 4.020796
IMP 0.820465
INR 90.481213
IQD 1412.489812
IRR 45134.375558
ISK 148.766647
JEP 0.820465
JMD 171.076654
JOD 0.760348
JPY 163.686863
KES 139.08915
KGS 92.433433
KHR 4378.658423
KMF 493.644665
KPW 965.039476
KRW 1499.246878
KWD 0.328832
KYD 0.89853
KZT 530.808592
LAK 23665.153893
LBP 96559.167469
LKR 315.465391
LRD 204.33406
LSL 18.869628
LTL 3.166124
LVL 0.648604
LYD 5.232592
MAD 10.648369
MDL 19.338491
MGA 4988.610841
MKD 61.5252
MMK 3482.679288
MNT 3643.561097
MOP 8.633826
MRU 42.957649
MUR 49.75717
MVR 16.566921
MWK 1869.754141
MXN 21.634265
MYR 4.699212
MZN 68.521819
NAD 18.869628
NGN 1788.626462
NIO 39.676905
NOK 11.794827
NPR 145.556645
NZD 1.797446
OMR 0.412628
PAB 1.078316
PEN 4.044584
PGK 4.328662
PHP 62.679371
PKR 299.424042
PLN 4.325898
PYG 8431.342275
QAR 3.931893
RON 4.977143
RSD 116.980874
RUB 104.99181
RWF 1478.084695
SAR 4.02742
SBD 8.943509
SCR 14.390377
SDG 644.972153
SEK 11.594849
SGD 1.4214
SHP 0.820465
SLE 24.501684
SLL 22484.885861
SOS 616.251927
SRD 37.497551
STD 22193.748611
SVC 9.435264
SYP 2694.101668
SZL 18.864528
THB 36.687634
TJS 11.462006
TMT 3.763655
TND 3.347839
TOP 2.511359
TRY 36.822021
TTD 7.327428
TWD 34.580984
TZS 2878.975413
UAH 44.514627
UGX 3946.692121
USD 1.072266
UYU 45.046486
UZS 13787.924411
VEF 3884341.194834
VES 47.874003
VND 27101.532073
VUV 127.301648
WST 3.003615
XAF 655.905833
XAG 0.031788
XAU 0.000394
XCD 2.897854
XDR 0.808437
XOF 655.905833
XPF 119.331742
YER 267.878982
ZAR 19.79817
ZMK 9651.687743
ZMW 29.35571
ZWL 345.269328
  • JRI

    0.1600

    13.53

    +1.18%

  • BCC

    1.4700

    142.32

    +1.03%

  • BCE

    0.3000

    28.37

    +1.06%

  • GSK

    -0.3700

    36.29

    -1.02%

  • RBGPF

    61.4000

    61.4

    +100%

  • CMSD

    0.2350

    25.125

    +0.94%

  • RIO

    -3.0400

    64.43

    -4.72%

  • SCS

    0.0600

    13.14

    +0.46%

  • CMSC

    0.1600

    24.84

    +0.64%

  • BTI

    -0.0100

    35.39

    -0.03%

  • RELX

    0.3200

    47.98

    +0.67%

  • VOD

    -0.0100

    9.31

    -0.11%

  • RYCEF

    0.0100

    7.15

    +0.14%

  • BP

    -0.8800

    28.93

    -3.04%

  • NGG

    -0.3600

    63.94

    -0.56%

  • AZN

    -0.2000

    64.49

    -0.31%

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.

C.Masood--DT