The upward trend of the results of steel plants is the outcome of heavy investments in retooling and expanding their production capacity, conducted by the companies' foreign shareholders.

Russian investors at TMK and Mechel obtained their best results this year, since their entry onto the Romanian market, with both groups announcing massive investments in the plants they own here, at the beginning of the year.

The Mechel group, which owns the plants in Targoviste and Campia Turzii, managed to step into the black for the first time since taking over the two plants, in 2002.

The overall profit of the two production facilities amounted to 10.6 million RON (6.2 million euros) in the first nine months of the year, against overall losses of 4.4 million RON (1.3 million euros) in the same period of last year.

Overall business of the plants in Targoviste and Campia Turzii stood at 977 million RON (296 million euros) nine months into the year, 30% more than in the same period of 2006.

Mechel Targoviste (COS) is the main production facility of the Russian group in Romania, with business worth 607 million RON (296 million euros) and a net profit worth 23 million RON (7 million euros), three quarters into the year.

Representatives of the Russian group announced they would invest around 35 million dollars by 2011 to modernise the plant in T argoviste. The other Russian group present with two production facilities in Romania, TMK, posted a cumulated turnover worth 39.1 million RON (11.8m euros) in the first nine months of the year, 39% higher than the same time last year, with the cumulated turnover of the two facilities increasing 46%, to 781 million RON (236m euros).

TMK Resita (SROY) plant doubled its profit nine months into the year, to 11 million RON (3.3 million euros), while its turnover went up by 32%, to 384 million RON (116 milli