Brazilian steel producer Acesita, an affiliate of Arcelor Mittal, is to open a new stainless steel service centre in Buenos Aires, Argentina, next year, Mendes, business director tells Steel Business Briefing.
Acesita currently sells 25,000 t/y into Argentina and claims a 65% market share, but the centre will help to expand sales. It will be equipped with cutting and polishing facilities and may be built with a partner or may be secured by acquisition.
Acesita’s current stainless coil export prices to Argentina are $3,800-4,000/t for austentics and $1,500-1,800/t for ferritic grades, SBB learns.
The company is already building a service centre in Barranquila city, Colombia, a country where it has 50% of the stainless market, and start-up is scheduled for March 2007. It will have an initial capacity of 10,000 tonnes/year, but this could increase by as much as 30% in the next two years, as the aim is to supply all the Andean region and also Mexico from here, SBB understands.
Aceista indicates that it has a 55% market share in South America, but it wants to reach 65% in the next three years.
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