Angola Iron and Steel Corporation (AISCO), based in Barra do Dande in Bengo province, has sharply curtailed output due to a shortage of raw materials, the company's corporate director Nripendra Singh disclosed on Tuesday.
Speaking to journalists as part of the Bengo por Dentro provincial media project, Singh said the plant has installed capacity to produce up to 30,000 tonnes of steel per month but is currently turning out between 4,000 and 7,000 tonnes monthly, constrained entirely by inadequate raw material supply.
The company's primary input is ferrous scrap metal, and its unavailability has emerged as the single greatest obstacle to restoring fuller production.
Singh noted that before the government decree barring the purchase of scrap from uncertified agents, AISCO was achieving output of around 10,000 tonnes per month — still well short of its rated capacity, but significantly higher than current levels.
The Angolan government banned commercial trading in ferrous and non-ferrous metals in January 2026 under Executive Decree No. 7/26, cancelling all licences in the sector to curb the vandalism of public assets, including theft of electrical cables, manhole covers and water infrastructure.
The measure was designed to close down informal scrap networks that had been stripping state infrastructure across the country, but its effect has also fallen on legitimate industrial consumers of recycled metal.
Singh is calling for the creation of mechanisms that would allow industrial companies to source ferrous scrap legally and through a controlled framework, arguing that restricted access to raw materials is affecting the operations of multiple industrial units across Angola.
AISCO has invested US$230 million in the project, which employs 700 Angolan workers and 40 expatriate staff, Singh said.
Production is directed primarily at the domestic market, with steel supplied mainly to construction and infrastructure companies, though the plant also exports to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Cardoso Paulo Bartolomeu, head of AISCO's Occupational Health, Safety and Hygiene Department, said the company has reinforced safety protocols following a workplace accident in October 2024 that claimed three workers' lives, acquiring new personal protective equipment, adding an ambulance to its emergency fleet and putting in place accident prevention and investigation mechanisms.
Source: ANGOP / Original article: https://www.angop.ao/noticias/economia/siderurgia-baixa-producao-por-escassez-de-materia-prima/
