Bulgaria, Romania and the Ukraine were competing to become the site of the new steel plant in Eastern Europe that Austrian firm Voestalpine announced in November 2007, Austrian Wiener Zeitung said.

Voestalpine spokesperson Peter Schiefer said the plant would cost around 500 million euro and produce produce around five million tons of flat-steel annually, which would make it the largest plant in Romania or in Bulgaria.
As a comparison, Bulgaria's Kremikovtzi, the current top producer, could produce two million tons per year, Wiener Zeitung said.

Voetstalpine began construction of a new service centre in Romania in late 2007, which would cost 18 million euro. The company already had three similar centres in Romania, Wiener Zeitung said.

The decision on the location for the new steel plant was expected by autumn 2008.