Votorantim Metals’ Steel Business Unit is among Brazil’s three largest producers of structural steel for civil construction and mechanical construction. The first production unit, located in Barra Mansa, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, began production in 1937 with a production capacity of 3600 metric tons of pig iron per year.
In 1970, after countless investments in quality and production, the unit’s installed capacity climbed to 250 thousand metric tons per year.
In a constant effort to pioneer new technologies in sustainable development, Votorantim Metals’ Steel Business Unit began to use recycled steel as its main raw material for steel production in 1995. In addition to reducing the cost of production, this process contributes to the conservation of natural resources.
In 2002, we completed modernization of the thread and bar roller, a piece of equipment responsible for 75% of the production capacity of the unit, which is now approximately 450 thousand tons of finished product per year.
The construction of a new continuous casting line the following year marked another important step in the process of modernizing the Barra Mansa unit.
In 2005, the unit experienced successive record-breaking months for production. The Votorantim Metals’ Steel Business Unit closed the period with annual production of 469.8 thousand metric tons of steel.
Between 2003 and 2006, VM invested R$200 million (Brazilian reais) in modernizing the Barra Mansa unit. In addition to incorporating new products such as meshes and trusses, the investment allowed the unit to improve operational performance. The production capacity grew from 470 thousand to 600 thousand metrics tons per year in 2006.
Votorantim Metals recently announced the second phase of the project. With investments of R$ 461 million, the company intends to increase the production capacity of its Barra Mansa unit to 655 thousand tons/year in 2007.
Also in 2007, VM announced the construction of its second steelworks in Brazil, to be installed in the city of Resende (Rio de Janeiro state). With a capacity to produce 1 million tons of steel per year and a total investment of R$1 billion, the plant will have 60% of its production devoted to the Brazilian market. The new unit will be constructed in two phases, in an area of 4.3 million m².
It is expected that the first phase of the project starts operating in 2009. The second phase will follow the market development.
During the construction of the new unit around two thousand new jobs will be created, both directly and indirectly. For the first phase operation approximately 700 workers will be needed.
In addition to these investments, early this year, Votorantim Metals’ Steel Business Unit acquired 52% of the shares of Colombia’s second largest steel company. Following the Group’s growth strategy in Latin America, a controlling majority share of stock in the Acerías Paz Del Rio Company was purchased for US$ 491 million.
Together, Votorantim Metals’ Steel Business Units employ 6,700 people, 1,800 in Brazil and 4,900 in Colombia.