[ferro-alloys.com]Venezuela's largest steelmaker Sidor is expected to finish 2018 at its lowest output level in the history, according to production data.

According to sources, the company produced 50,128 mt of crude steel in the first eight months of the year.

The company's steelmaking operations have been offline since August while a few other areas, including its pellet plant, are operating at minimum levels, the sources said.

Venezuela's steel and iron markets remain at a standstill as a result of ongoing strikes since August in basic industry sectors, tightening supply and production.

In 2017, the company produced 272,256 mt of crude steel, at that point its lowest annual output total.

According to the World Steel Association, Venezuela produced around 121,000 mt of steel in the first 10 months of 2018, compared with 444,000 mt in the full-year 2017 period.

Sidor's continuous pickling line, one of the most valuable parts of the flats rolling process, has yet to operate in 2018. In 2017, it produced 47,546 mt. The segment has been offline since June 2017 after a large fire. No cold-rolled coil or tinplate output has been recorded since then.

The company planned to have all six electric arc furnaces fully operational in 2018, although sources question whether it will achieve this goal even in 2019.

Sidor has an installed crude steel capacity of 5.1 million mt/year, of which 2.8 million mt/year is hot-rolled coil, 1.7 million mt/year cold-rolled coil, 600,000 mt/year wire rod, 390,000 mt/year rebar and 280,000 mt/year tinplate.

(S&P Global Platts)

• [Editor:王可]