Wednesday's report follows Solarfun's forecast earlier this month for strong demand in the second half of this year and said it plans toincreaseitsproductioncapacity.
While international oilfield services firms like Halliburton and Schlumberger have kept operations going in the South American country, PDVSA has proven that itscapacitytoincreaseproduction on its own is quite limited.
As we had mentioned then, the most significant advantage to Cliffs from the acquisition is the increase in its North American iron ore productioncapacity.
The worry on every steelman's mind is that as the growth in demand for steel slows from its recent hectic rates, the huge increase in Chinese productioncapacity will be diverted to turning out steel for export.