Editor's Note: The Bolivarian government successfully weathered the year long drought (2009) by rationing electricity and reducing consumption of water from Venezuela's hydro-electric dams. Electricity was cut off at scheduled intervals, in most places, for about 3 hours, twice a week. In addition to reducing consumption, the rationing provided a powerful lesson on conservation to everyone, including companies like Sidor and the entire population. During the period of rationing, the corporate media exaggerated power outages, blamed the government instead of the drought and claimed that President Chávez was losing his political base. Rationing ended early this summer and electricity has been restored to people now more aware of the importance of this vital natural resource - water. The ending of rationing is also reflected in increased manufacturing in companies like Sidor, Venezuela's primary steel producer located in the southern state of Bolívar on the border of Brasil.

- Les Blough, Editor

Steel production nearly doubles at Sidor

Inside the Siderurgica Plant of the Sidor Steel Company.

Thanks to the flexibility of power cuts previously implemented by the Venezuelan government, Sidor has announced that during the month of July, the company achieved production capacity of 62 percent, further estimating that it will close 2010 with 1,600,000 tons of liquid steel produced.

According to company representatives, this is largely due in part to the flexibility of the previously announced energy restrictions set forth by the Venezuelan government, which capped megawatt (MW) usage by both individuals and companies for the first half of the year.

In the first six months of the year, the 300MW cap allowed for only a 35 percent steelmaking capacity. Energy usage was increased by 100MW in July, thereby allowing for a near doubling of steel production.

Source: Steel Orbis