Votorantim Siderurgia is a steel

Steel

Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...

 company created in 2008 by Brazilian conglomerate Votorantim Group

Votorantim Group

Votorantim Group is one of the largest industrial conglomerates in Latin America, operating in various sectors such as finance, energy, siderurgy, steel, pulp and paper among others...

. At the time it was created, the company had 5,300 employees and operations in Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

, and Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

 and installed capacity of 2.45 million tonnes per year.

The company controls three steel mills in Latin America

Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages  – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

 and the fourth is under construction in Brazil. In addition to their own plants, holds 13% of the voting shares of Usiminas

Usiminas

Usiminas is a large producer of steel in the Americas, with major steel mills in Brazil with a total capacity of 9.5 million metric tons of steel per year. The company accounts for 28 % of total steel output in Brazil. Usiminas has an installed capacity of producing 9.5 million tons of crude...

. The oldest unit is a steel Barra Mansa in Rio de Janeiro State, 1937. The other two plants - Acerías Paz del Río, Colombia, and AcerBrag in Argentina - were acquired in 2007. The steel construction, which entered into operation in September 2009, is located at Resende

Resende

-Portugal:* Resende Municipality, a municipality in the district of Viseu* Resende , a civil parish in the municipality of Resende* Resende , a civil parish in the municipality of Paredes de Coura...

(RJ) and its ability to produce 1.03 million tons of long steel.

In addition to producing and selling steel, Votorantim Siderurgia acts in the operation of mines of iron ore and coal and in the development and management of forest plantations for the production of charcoal used in the production of pig iron

Pig iron

Pig iron is the intermediate product of smelting iron ore with a high-carbon fuel such as coke, usually with limestone as a flux. Charcoal and anthracite have also been used as fuel...

, a major raw materials for the manufacture of steel.