Venezuela’s Cerбmicas Carabobo, which supplies refractory material for furnaces at state steelmaker Sidor, now has its own furnaces operating to begin shipping the input to the steelmaker, a Cerбmicas Carabobo union leader told BNamericas.

“The inputs, parts and raw materials necessary to operate and meet Sidor’s needs were already purchased,” the union leader said.

Cerбmicas Carabobo halted its operations about 18 months ago after it was nationalized. As a result, 70% of the melting and ladle furnaces at Sidor were shut down due to the lack of replacement refractory bricks.

Sidor had to use refractory bricks imported from Brazil to operate the furnaces.

In September, the Venezuelan government announced that it would reactivate Cerбmicas Carabobo’s operations through a technology transfer agreement with Cuba’s Refractarios Habana.

The company, now to be called Refractarios Socialistas de Venezuela, was transferred to state heavy industry holding CVG, which took on its reactivation, the union leader said.

Sidor, Venezuela’s biggest steelmaker, has liquid steel capacity of 4.2Mt/y but has been operating at well below capacity since the state took it over from the Luxembourg-based Ternium (NYSE: TX) group in 2008. The plant is located in Bolнvar state’s Ciudad Guayana.

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