As Chinese steel giant HeSteel increases production at the Smederevo Steel Mill in Serbia, its 5,000 workers are feeling more confident of the future and believe their families will improve their living standards once the factory starts working at full capacity.
As blast furnaces melt ore into liquid iron, these are cast at the steel shop into blocks and later hot and cold rolled to get the final product. New Chinese managers witness how hard-working employees complete their tasks with diligence and precision, respecting strict procedures and orders of their superiors.
For most of these 5,000 people coming from the city of Smederevo or nearby towns, production of steel has become a family tradition, while working at the factory is the only way of living they can imagine. Here, some 60 km south-east of the capital Belgrade where HeSteel bought the factory, men and steel became one over the course of history.
There is even one popular joke in the city that if a group of people stay together, even if only two of them work in the steel mill, topics will only be the mill. And the same goes for local families.
For them, it's not just personal feelings they attach to the factory, it is a common sense of belonging and hope the factory bears for the city of Smederevo and even Serbia.
One month after HeSteel took over the factory by paying the amount of 46 million euros ($51.39 million) to the Serbian government on July 2, sales of the factory's products - cold and hot rolled steel - increased monthly from 81,000 tons of steel in June 2016 to 102,000 in July this year.
Both managers and workers rejoice that the expected sales in August are estimated at 126,000 tons. Workers will finally feel "safe" and relieved as long as production continues to increase.
SOurce: Chinadaily.com