Colombia's steel production will reach 2.2Mt/y in the second half of 2009, the executive director of national steel association Andi Fedemetal, Juan Manuel Lesmes, told BNamericas.
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Expectations of reaching that figure are based on projects that are in the works, Lesmes said.
"These are all short-term projects that make us believe we can double the production we registered in 2004 by the middle of 2009," he said.
The projects in question include a new 500,000t/y plant being built in Tocancipa city by Diaco, the local subsidiary of Brazilian giant Grupo Gerdau (NYSE: GGB), according to the executive.
"It won't produce that much immediately, of course. That is in the mid-term," Lesmes said.
Another project that will help boost output is plant expansion and a program to improve steel quality underway at Acerías Paz del Río, the Colombian subsidiary of Brazilian group Votorantim.
Lesmes also mentioned plans at Sidenal's shredding plant, where the company is negotiating to obtain a new furnace, and an expansion at the company's Sidenor steel plant.
Colombia churned out 843,500t of crude steel and 229,800t of primary iron in the first eight months of 2008, according to figures by the Latin American Iron and Steel Institute (Ilafa).
Colombia's apparent consumption is 3.1Mt/y and the country imports 1Mt/y of steel - of which 80% is in rolled steel and steel coils - mainly from Brazil, Venezuela, Mexico, China, Japan, Russia and the Ukraine.
