Vallourec Barreiro

The German company Mannesmann, holder of the patent for seamless hot-rolled tubes, has decided to make its first post-war investment outside Europe in 1952 in response to a request from the Brazilian government, which urgently needed to build a pipe mill for the rapidly emerging oil industry in the state of Bahia.

The site in the suburbs of the Belo Horizonte metropolis - Barreiro - was chosen by German engineers because of its convenient distance from the port of Sao Paolo and the ore deposits in Minas Gerais.

The steelworks with one blast furnace and a tube mill was commissioned in 1954 and the construction and delivery of the technology (including the unique interchangeable 90t LD converter) was carried out by DEMAG.

The plant was named Companhia Siderúrgica Mannesmann. In 1977 the name was changed to Mannesmannröhren-Werk AG.
After the merger with the French company Vallourec in 2000, Vallourec&Mannesmann Tubes was formed, since 2013 Vallourec Brazil only.

The blast furnaces and steelworks were permanently shut down in 2018 for environmental reasons; the billets are now supplied by the sister mill in Jeceaba.

Keywords: 2023, vallourec, barreiro, belo horizonte, minas gerais, siderurgica, tube mill, tube plant, industrial photography, industriekultur, steel making, beauty of steel, alto forno, blast furnace, demag

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