CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez ordered the nationalization of local steel company Sidetur yesterday in the latest of a several recent government takeovers in South America’s top oil producer.
Sidetur, a subsidiary of local steel company Sivensa, produces mainly rebar, bar, beam, angle and flat products. According to its website (www.sidetur.com.ve), it has six plants in Venezuela, an annual production capacity of more than 835,000 tonnes and exports products to 25 countries.
“I am going to say the words that (the opposition) like: expropriate it,” the socialist former soldier said during his regular Sunday television broadcast.
Earlier this year, Sidetur workers went on strike at the company’s biggest plant, at Puerto Ordaz in the south of the Andean nation, halting work for several months in a dispute over health and safety conditions.
Chavez said Sidetur was producing 40 percent of the steel rods used in construction in Venezuela.
“You will see at what price we buy them, since they belong to the people, and at what price we sell the rods,” he said.
The president has ordered several nationalizations in recent weeks, including a big fertilizer plant, a motor lubricants maker and a major local farm supplies company.
During his nearly 12 years in power, Chavez has put much of the OPEC member’s economy under state control. Supporters say he is redressing years of economic imbalance in the country, but critics say his policies have scared away investors.
Earlier this month, some workers at another Venezuelan steel company, Sidor — which is the biggest steelmaker in the Andean region and the Caribbean — briefly went on strike over a pay dispute.
That nationalized steel plant was badly hit by power restrictions during electricity shortages earlier this year.
