Bolivia’s National Steel Plan, which seeks to apply the El Mutún iron ore mine for industrialization, will allow 50 percent cheaper steel construction to benefit the domestic market demand, accoring to experts at Universidad Mayor de San Andrés (UMSA) and University Autónoma Tomás Frías (UATF) of Potosí.
Bolivia’s President Evo Morales announced that the project is part of the plan prepared by the Steel Company of Mutún (ESM), which involves the installation of a mini-mill steel mil to process 150,000 metric tons of rolled steel, for which an investment of US$400 million is required.
Currently, according to official data, Bolivia spends around US$230 million for import of construction steel, mainly from Brazil and Peru.
According to Rodny Balanza of the Institute of Metallurgy of the UMSA, the price of construction materials in the domestic market will decrease significantly with the commissioning of the plant. "The proposal, while not huge, is at least realistic for the steel industry in the country," said Balanza.
The National Steel Plan has three stages; first, it is planned to start with the production of construction irons; the second will be credited to metal and then automotive industrialization; and the third will establish the basis and rationale for the FMO large-scale industry, in order to meet demand from export markets such as China, Japan and others.