A growth in Colombia’s construction industry could strengthen the demand for long steel products according to the Colombian Steel Committee.
In a statement the committee indicated new construction and infrastructure projects such as warehouses, buildings, roads, and energy towers would boos the demand for steel products. Additionally, new oil exploration projects would also require pipelines giving a further lift to the steel industry.
Steelmakers like Ternium Colombia are building new steel plants in anticipation of this growth. In fact, Ternium’s new plant could increase Colombia’s steel capacity by 26pc, the committee reported.
The new plant will produce 520,000mt of long and compact rolls products per year for the construction industry and the facility will start operations in the first half of 2020, according to Ternium.
The country’s steel production fell by 1.5pc to 95,000mt in January 2020, according to data from the Latin America Steel Association, Alacero.
Colombia produced 1.3mn mt of long steel products in 2019, up by 7pc compared to the prior year, according to the Colombian Steel Committee.