Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine are competing to be the site of a new steel plant of Voestalpine,
the Viener Zeitung.at reported Monday. The Austrian metal company unveiled plans to build a new facility in Eastern Europe in November. A decision is expected in autumn, 2008.

Voestalpine spokesman Peter Schiefer is quoted saying that the new plant will cost some 500 million euro and produce around five million tonnes of flat-steel annually. That would mean that the new plant would be the largest in either Romania or Bulgaria.

Current top producer Kremikovtzi near Sofia in Bulgaria can produce two million tonnes a year. Voestalpine began construction of a new service center in Romania at the end of 2007 that will cost 18 million euro. The Austrian firm already has three similar centers in that country, Viener Zeitung says.