September 07, 2008

Colombia Paz del Río plans to export steel to US

BNamericas reported that Colombian steelmaker Acerías Paz del Río, controlled by Brazilian company Votorantim will market its products in the US once it finishes an expansion project scheduled to start in 2008.

A sector executive told BNamericas that "The plan came about because of Votorantim's program to boost production capacity.” He added that Votorantim aims to increase APR's output from the current 350,000 tonne per year to nearly 1 tonne per year.

Sector analyst Mr Edgar Jiménez recently said that Colombia has the potential to become a net steel exporter if steel projects that are underway in the country continue successfully.

The executive said “APR also called its creditors to a meeting to present a payment proposal, and this week [December 24-28] there may be a shareholders meeting to keep working on company reorganization.”

APR's plant is located in Belencito in Colombia's central Boyacá department. The company has a 14% share of the domestic steel market and contributes some 30% of the nation's steel production.