Just a few days after announcing it will develop its Mutún iron and steel project alone, the Bolivian government said it will now halt operations at state-run Empresa Siderúrgica del Mutún (ESM) in the region of Santa Cruz.
The country’s Vice President, Alvaro Garcia Linera, said the company responsible for the Mutún iron and steel project will close its doors, as it “basically produced nothing.”
“The Mutún we know will be closed, as its administration has basically produced nothing, and because the Mutún isn’t industrialized,” Linera said in a press conference, while announcing the company’s shutdown.
The Vice President said Bolivia will meet in October with officials from the Chinese government in order to seek a loan to “reactivate” the struggling company. “The idea is to have a steel industry at the Mutún to supply the domestic market, with an expected investment of $400-600 million from a Chinese loan,” he said.
State-owned Empresa Siderúrgica del Mutún (ESM) expects to meet up to 60 percent of the country’s demand for steel. Bolivian imports of iron and steel have surged by 343 percent in the past 10 years, according to information released recently by the country’s institute of foreign trade, IBCE.
Linera also said there’s no need to have many employees at the company, at least, not until Bolivia completes or receives the loan from China.
“Then we’ll hire more people, but with a specific mission of extracting iron ore and building a steel company. As of today, we don’t need much people. Having 40, 60 or 80 people at the Mutún isn’t necessary, as we’re not in a production phase,” Garcia Linera said.