Albania has revoked the environmental permit of Turkish-owned steelmaker Kurum International for its industrial operations in Bradashesh, near the central city of Elbasan, local media reported.

The decision follows violations found during an inspection carried out by the National Environment Agency earlier this year, which the company had appealed, but the Appeals Review Commission at Albania's General Inspectorate had rejected the appeal, business and economy news outlet Ekofin reported earlier this week, without elaborating what violations had been found.

An environment ministry order to immediately revoke the licence, signed on November 3, covers iron and steel production, ferrous metal processing, foundry operations, the use of natural gas and liquefied natural gas, lime production in rotary kilns, and metal processing and welding.

Kurum has faced scrutiny over its environmental practices in recent years, following a BIRN investigation published in September 2024 into the alleged improper handling and export of hazardous industrial waste. The company was also linked by local media to a case involving 102 containers of hazardous waste shipped from Albania to Thailand in 2024 and subsequently returned to Albania.

A report published in April 2026 by the EU-funded Resource Environmental Center Albania (REC Albania) also cited inspection findings that scrap materials at Kurum's Elbasan facility had not been properly separated, with inspectors identifying end-of-life vehicles, used tyres, gas cylinders and refrigerators stored alongside ferrous metals.

Kurum International began operating at the Elbasan Metallurgical Complex in 1998, when it took over the steelmaking and rolling mill facilities, the company says on its website. It later expanded its operations, adding oxygen and lime production facilities in 2002. The company completed the privatisation of the steel production complex in 2009.

Kurum is the only iron producer in Albania, covering about 85% of the domestic market needs. The Elbasan Metallurgical Complex is one of Albania's largest industrial sites, built in the 1960s.