Normal operations at Chilean steelmaker Gerdau Aza’s mill at the Colina complex in the metropolitan region are expected to resume by the end of April, following repairs currently being carried out on damage caused by the February 27 earthquake, a company spokesperson told BNamericas.

The spokesperson said the steel mill’s most damaged facility was the furnace for production of billets used in hot rolling.

However, the complex’s hot rolling plant is currently in condition to start operating, but it does not yet have enough raw materials to resume at full capacity, the spokesperson said, adding full capacity will be achieved within the first days of April, fed with 3,500t of billets the company has in stock and another 8,000t that will arrive next week.

The billets are part of the plan announced by Gerdau Aza to acquire 40,000t of steel products from parent company Gerdau’s (NYSE: GGB) Brazilian and US plants in order to maintain supply over the coming months.

Also as part of the plan, 2,000t of finished rebar will arrive next week and join the company’s current stock of finished products.

The spokesperson said the remaining 30,000t of imported products, including billets and rebar, will begin arriving on April 14.

Gerdau Aza previously announced it has frozen rebar prices during H1 as a way to help infrastructure and housing reconstruction, with prices from February 27 remaining the same until June 30. The company also said that if international prices and costs during the second half stay the same as those in H1, prices will not change for the entire year.

Gerdau Aza has installed capacity to produce 520,000t/y of steel products, including rebar, profiles and wire rods. More than 90% of the company’s output is sold on the local market.

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