Brazil Steel Institute

Votorantim Siderurgia (VS) was created in July, 2008, upon the repositioning of the steel business within the structure of Grupo Votorantim. The new unit was founded with approximately 5,300 employees and operations in three countries: Brazil, Argentina and Colombia.

In Brazil, VS has two production units. The first one was founded in 1937 in the city of Barra Mansa (state of Rio de Janeiro), and produces 750,000 t/y of steel. The second, to be opened in 2009 in the city of Resende (also in Rio de Janeiro), will be able to produce 1 Mty of long steel products upon reaching full capacity.

In Colômbia, VS holds a 72,67% stake in steelmaker Acerías Paz del Río, with a capacity of 450,000 t/y of long and flat steel products. In Argentina, the Company holds a 52.9% stake in AcerBrag, with a production of 250,000 t/y of long steel products. Both stakes were acquired in 2007.

Besides steel production and trade, Votorantim Siderurgia operates iron ore and coal mines, has eucalyptus forests for the production of vegetable coal, produces pig iron and is a shareholder of Sistema Usiminas.

The steel produced by VS is used mostly by the civil construction and mechanic construction industries. The Company produces, among others, rods for concrete, wires, shapes, screens, trusses and carbon steel wire rod for drawing and cold-rolling.

Following a sustainable development policy and concerned with the preservation of natural resources, the Barra Mansa Steel Mill was the first in Latin America to adopt oxygen blow and continuous casting, and has used steel scrap in its processes since 1995.