The Colombian Committee of Steel Producers (CPA) issued an alert this week over the imports of 23,000 mt of alloyed rebar from Turkey and China that did not meet the country’s security standards.
According to CPA, the rebar imports did not pass through any quality control when entering Colombia, potentially affecting the seismic resistance of local buildings. The country’s institute of technical norms and standards, ICONTEC, said distributors selling the imported rebar could be fined.
CPA also said the government’s Superintendence of Industry and Commerce, SIC, found an illegal rebar mill in the city of Facatativa that recycled used rebar and then sold it as new. During an inspection to the illegal mill, SIC found 18 mt of rebar that didn’t comply with the local security standards.
“The industry is concerned about what it is happening. Colombia is a peculiar country, as 85 percent of its population is concentrated in areas of medium to high seismic danger. The seismic resistance of steel is directly related to the its chemical composition and its production process. People’s lives are in risk when we don’t use high quality rebar,” said Camila Toro, executive director at CPA.