Steel production at Venezuela’s state-run Complejo Siderúrgico Nacional (CSN) has diminished 90 percent in the past seven months, a Venezuelan union said.
According to the nation’s union of the steel industry, Sidernac, the government’s owned steel complex has produced only 19,000 mt of steel, despite its 210,000 mt capacity.
“This situation affects 2,700 workers who go to the company to meet a schedule just because there’s no feedstock to use, because 80 percent of the material is imported,” said Alejandro Álvarez, general secretary at Sidernac.
According to the syndical leader, the steel complex isn’t operating due to a lack of feedstock. Just two of the seven plants Venezuela’s CSN has are operating, Álvarez said, adding Venezuela’s CSN is yet to meet its financial obligations.
Recently, the company’s president, Gerónimo Jaimes, said the nation’s Foreign center of Commerce, Cencoex, approved a $10.5 million credit, so CSN could pay the debts it still has with global suppliers.