Brazil steel maker Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN) plans to expand its presence in the domestic rebar market, local media reported on Tuesday.
The company has just entered in the long products segment and is eyeing a 9 percent market share in the rebar industry. CSN is already produces rebar, and according to Fernando Martinez, executive director at CSN, Brazil’s domestic rebar should reach 4.5 million metric tons (mt) this year.
CSN invested about 1.6 billion reais (US$704 million) to build a long products plant in the city of Volta Redonda, Rio de Janeiro, where it already produces flat products. This mill has a 400,000 mt/year capacity to produce rebar and a 100,000 mt/year to produce wire rod, reports say.
CSN plans to sell about 150,000 mt of rebar this year and expects to fully operate its plant 2015. By June this year, CSN is expected to receive all homologations it needs from the country’s industrial standards regulator Inmetro, said Martinez.
The Brazil steel maker is eyeing the South and Southeast regions, on which about 90 percent of the nation’s long products are consumed.
CSN says it is not worried about the competition, as it is entering a market that belongs to companies like Gerdau, ArcelorMittal and Votorantim. “CSN has a tradition in manufacturing steel and is one of the most integrated companies in railway and port logistics, in iron ore and generates energy, what gives us competitive advantages,” said Martinez.
For the wire rod segment, CSN plans to reach other markets. “Our product will be manufactured from steel plates that come from our flat products mill. It will have no scrap. By doing this, the product can be used in the production of steel cord for the tire market,” he said.