On Friday, March 6, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the government's new state-owned steel plant Siderúrgica Nacional that would be able to produce 1.5 million mt of crude steel per year.
The new plant is scheduled to be commissioned by the end of 2011, and is expected to create 1,300 direct jobs once the plant starts operating.
With advanced Italian and German technologies, the plant will be able to produce flat steel, but the product mix hasn't been disclosed yet.
President Chávez said Venezuela together with Brazilian investors will build the new steel plant in southeastern Bolivar state.
President Chavez's government also nationalized the country's largest steel maker Sidor last year. Since then, Venezuelan authorities have been locked in negotiations over compensation with Ternium SA, a subsidiary of the Argentine Italian conglomerate Techint, which owned a 60 percent stake in Sidor.