Supply of low-thickness flat steel from Venezuela’s largest steelmaker Sidor has been reaching low levels, according to media reports.
Sidor’s supply of flat steel of lower thicknesses reportedly fell 60 percent in the past few months, as the company worked in H1 at less than 25 percent of its installed capacity.
As a result, about 55 percent of the companies affiliated with the metalworking consortium of Carabobo (Comec), which use Sidor’s steel, worked at low levels for a period of 20 consecutive months, local reports said.
Álvaro Peressutti, president at Comec, said the lack of supply is more serious with CRC with thicknesses of 0.70, 0.90, 1.1 and 1.4mm, which are used in a number of applications. Supply of steel with thicknesses of 2.5mm and higher is functioning at regular levels, Peressutti said.
Other problem affecting both the steel and the local metalworking industries is the high cost of freight, which reaches up to 55 percent of the price of the steel.
“A [steel] coil costs about VEF 400,000 ($62,996), and to bring it from Ciudad Bolivar to Valencia we need to pay VEF 220,000 ($34,647) for freight,” Peressutti exemplified, adding that high freight costs have a strong impact in the costs as well as in the competitiveness of the companies.