Production of steel in Slovenia has a rich tradition of almost 400 hundred years. At the foothills of the Julian Alps and the Karavanke range, over Lower Carniola and southern Styria our ancestors melted iron already as early as the 14th century. The abundance of natural resources – deposits of iron ore, vast forests for production of charcoal as well as water sources for powering sledgehammers – enabled bloomeries to thrive.
The second half of the last century brought about the closing of smaller bloomeries due to their uncompetitiveness. The crisis of Slovenian iron industry led to merging of iron plants. New technological developments in metallurgic science around the world enabled the first steel furnaces and rolling mills to be built in Slovenia.
Between World Wars, Slovenia accounted for two thirds of Yugoslavia's steel production, and after the Second World War major developments were on a horizon for Slovenian ironworks due to active investments into modern technology.
The need for common presence on foreign markets as well as the need for division and specialisation of the production programme resulted in the emergence of United Company of Slovenian Steelworks after the worker’s referendums in 1969. Four years later the company merged in Slovenian Steelworks United Company, and in 1978 it was again restructured as a SOZD company. The company went through the processes of restructuring and renaming two more times, in year 1990 into the business system Slovenian Ironworks and early in 2005 in Slovenian Steel Group.
The separation of Republic of Slovenia from Yugoslavia and the declaration of Slovenia’s independence led to an unforeseen economic crisis in the Slovenian iron industry. The loss of traditional markets in former Yugoslavia and unpreparedness for international competition foresaw major troubles for Slovenian steel-making. In 1991 and 1992 the Government of the Republic of Slovenia passed a renewal and restructuring programme for the Slovenian steel industry in three stages: nationalisation – renewal - privatization. With the nationalisation in 1991 the Republic of Slovenia became the only holder of Slovenske Železarne. In March 2003 the privatization process was concluded as the the Government of the Republic of Slovenia sold 55.35 percent of its shares to the Russian group Koks. Group Koks is managed by IMH – Industrial Metallurgical Holding.
Slovenian Steel Group is the largest manufacturer of steel in Slovenia. The production is based on scrap metal and waste steel. The group comprises production, service and commerce companies, which are entirely owned by the group.