Colombia will be self-sufficient in steel production by 2013 thanks to investments underway, the executive director of national steel association Andi Fedemetal, Juan Manuel Lesmes told BNamericas.
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The forecast is based on investments being announced in the country right now in long and flat steel products, he said.
Lesmes pointed out a US$1.4bn investment for a rolled steel plant announced recently by Brazil's Votorantim Metais and Colombian steelmaker Acesco.
"Those investments are elevating us to self-sufficiency, which doesn't mean protectionism. We will also continue free trade," he said.
Currently, Colombia only faces a shortage of flat products but the deficit will be filled as soon as the Acesco-Votorantim project is fired up, he added.
The project is designed to supply 800,000t/y of rolled products needed on the domestic market and could eventually export an estimated 500,000-600,000t/y.
Acesco currently imports finished hot-rolled steel and runs it through a cold process. The new plant is expected to generate savings of close to US$700mn for the country, which is what hot-rolled imports currently cost.
Another project that will promote a self-sufficient Colombia is the new cold-rolled plant that Corpacero is about to launch in northern Barranquilla city, Lesmes said without providing further details.
Colombia's apparent consumption is 3.1Mt/y and the country imports 1Mt/y of steel, where 80% represents rolled steel and steel coils, mainly from Brazil, Venezuela, Mexico, China, Japan, Russia and the Ukraine.
