SIDOR

Siderúrgica de Orinoco C.A. "Alfredo Maneiro" (Sidor) is the biggest Venezuelan steel corporation. The company is situated in an industrial zone in Ciudad Guayana, Bolívar State, near the Orinoco River.

Major iron deposits were found in the area in 1926 and 1947. Mining companies constructed rail infrastructure to take iron ore to ports on the Orinoco river. The Sidor plant was designed to make use of hydro-electricity from the Caroni, a tributary of the Orinoco, to process iron ore which had been hitherto exported.

Founded in 1953 as a public company, it was privatised in 1997 under President Rafael Caldera, with a 60% stake going to Argentina's Ternium.

It was renationalised in mid-2008 under Hugo Chávez following a series of industrial disputes over pay which had paralysed the company for over year. In early 2009 compensation of around $1.65bn was nearly agreed for the nationalisation of Ternium's 59.7% stake, with Ternium also keeping a 10% stake in the company. In May 2009 a final compensation total of $1.97bn was agreed.

According to Venezuelanalysis.com, Bolívar governor Francisco Rangel Gómez, while on the negotiation commission to resolve the dispute, "ordered the National Guard to fire on protesting Sidor workers." In April 2008 Hugo Chavez ordered SIDOR to be nationalised. Production went down from 4.3 millon tons in 2007 to 307 thousand tons in 2016, production capacity being 4.6 million tons.