Wednesday, 10 Mar 2010

Business News Americas reported that Chilean steelmaker Gerdau Aza, the local subsidiary of Brazil's Gerdau, has resumed operations at its hot rolling plant in the metropolitan region's Renca district

A company spokesperson told BNamericas that “However, the restart of operations at the Colina complex including a steel mill and hot rolling plant- remains uncertain as damage is still being evaluated.”

The two plants were affected by the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that hit central and southern Chile on February 27th 2010.

In addition, Gerdau Aza will freeze steel rebar prices during H1 as a way to help infrastructure and housing reconstruction, the company said in a press release, adding that prices from February 27 will remain 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, rebar prices will not change for the entire year.

Gerdau Aza has installed capacity to produce 520,000 tonnes per year of steel products, including rebar, profiles and wire rods. More than 90% of the company's output is sold on the local market.

(Sourced from BNAmericas)