Bolivia plans to produce about 200,000 tons of steel per year, progressively, starting in 2024, the president of the state-owned Empresa Siderúrgica del Mutún (ESM), Jorge Alvarado, said.
“Until January of next year, we can already put into operation the Mutún Steel Complex, and we can start operating; we can even produce steel, about 200,000 tons per year,” Alvarado told the local press.
Bolivia currently imports about 450,000 tons of steel per year from Argentina, Brazil, and Peru, a figure that will be reduced when domestic production begins.
The new factory will produce corrugated steel bars and wire rod; the former are required for construction, and the latter is used as raw material to produce nuts, screws, and nails.
The Mutún Steel Complex is in the Bolivian department of Santa Cruz (east), where investments of 546 million dollars have been planned for the construction of seven industrial plants, but not all will be ready at the beginning of next year.
“By October 2024, a reactor will be installed that will be constituted in the “heart” of the Mutún Steel Complex, and with this, it will be possible to produce “sponge iron that will be used as a value-added raw material to produce steel,” Alvarado said.
That equipment, weighing about 175 tons, was built in Mexico and arrived in Bolivia in early August.
