Venezuelan state steelmaker Sidor is waiting for the announcement of a new company president after the exit of Justo Noguera Pietri in the past week, Sidor sources said Wednesday.
Noguera Pietri left his position to run for governor of Bolivar state as the candidate of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) in an election to be held in October.
Noguera Pietri has been Sidor's president since April 2016. A general in the Venezuelan National Guard, Noguera Pietri also led the company in part of 2013, when he resigned to assume command of that military force. He has led Venezuela's basic industry holding company, Corporacion Venezolana de Guayana (CVG), since July 2014.
Sources said the manager of marketing at Sidor, Colonel Humberto Calles Gonzalez, is the first option to take the company presidency and to replace him as head of CVG. However, the government has not officially announced Noguera Pietri's replacement.
Sidor has remained offline since the end of June. In the first half of 2017, the company produced 141,388 mt of crude steel.
Sidor's installed capacity is for crude steel production of 425,000 mt/month, or 5.1 million mt/year. It also can produce 2.8 million mt/year of hot-rolled coil, 1.7 million mt/year of cold-rolled coil, 280,000 mt/year of tin plate, 390,000 mt/year of rebar and 600,000 mt/year of wire rod, among other products.
