BNamericas reported that the production of hot rolled steel at Venezuelan state owned steelmaker Sidor dropped to 539,000 tonnes in the first half of 2012, down by 36% YoY as compared to 848,000 tonnes during the same period in 2011.

According to a company report obtained by BNamericas, rebar production also fell from 171,000 tonnes in H1 2011 to 116,000 tonnes in H2 2012. Pellet production slipped from 2.6 million tonnes in the first half of 2011 to 2.1 million tonnes while direct reduced iron production fell from 1.4 million tonnes to 1.1 million tonnes.

According to the report, the biggest slump recorded was in aluminum sheet production, which dropped from 21,000 tonnes to only 10,000 tonnes in H1 2012.

Source - Business News Americas

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