It is reported that Venezuela's President Mr Hugo Chavez has ordered the nationalization of local steel company Sidetur on Sunday in the latest of a several recent government takeovers.

Mr Chavez during his regular Sunday television broadcast said “I am going to say the words that like expropriate it.”

Mr Chavez said Sidetur is producing 40% of the steel rods used in construction in Venezuela. He said “You will see at what price we buy them, since they belong to the people and at what price we sell the rods.”

Sidetur, a subsidiary of local steel company Sivensa, produces mainly rebar, bar, beam, angle and flat products. According to its website, it has six plants in Venezuela, an annual production capacity of more than 835,000 tonnes and exports products to 25 countries.

Earlier this year, Sidetur workers went on strike at the company's biggest plant, at Puerto Ordaz in the south of the Andean nation, halting work for several months in a dispute over health and safety conditions.

(Sourced from Reuters)