Several Venezuelan industrial segments have been lacking supplies of raw materials from state-run steelmaker Sidor, according to media reports.
The local canned industry segment, which signed a deal earlier this year to use Sidor’s tinplate for packaging, halted operations after inventories were depleted and new supply was unavailable.
“It’s been a week we’re not producing,” Luis Henrique Aguilar, president at Venezuelan HV Envases, told local newspaper Correo del Caroni. “We’re waiting for Sidor’s next [tinplate] shipments.”
Another media source said about 60 percent of Sidor’s blast furnaces are not producing, leading to a lack of supplies for several industrial segments.
In the state of Carabobo, OCI-Metalmecánica is also said to have halted its operations due to its dependency of supplies from the state-controlled steelmaker. The company reportedly stopped producing doors and windows for the country’s housing program due to the lack of steel coils provided by Sidor.