Volta Redonda is the name of a city in the Rio de Janeiro state of Brazil with 182.81 km² of area, located from 350m to 707m from the sea level (22º31'23" S, 44º06'15" W) and with a population of 259,811 inhabitants (estimated in 2009). The area around the city has nearly 700,000. Its name (which is Portuguese for Round Turn) is due to the round shape of a curve in the Paraíba do Sul river around which the city was built.
Situated in Volta Redonda is Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN), Latin America's largest steel producer. Today its economy, despite still being based on industry, is quite diverse, and largely focused on the areas of services and trade. Due to this, Volta Redonda is worldly known as Cidade do Aço (which is Portuguese for Steel City).
The city motto is with the municipalities Barra Mansa (north, northwest, west and southwest), Barra do Piraí (northeast), and Pinheiral, Piraí (south and east), and Rio Claro (south) and is a 130 km of city of Rio de Janeiro.
Along with the municipalities Barra Mansa and Pinheiral, is a conurbation that over 500,000 inhabitants, according to the IBGE estimates for 2008, and in this state the largest urban spot outside the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro.
Economical center of South Fluminense region, Volta Redonda is a strategic area, close to major cities-pole of other regional states, such as Juiz de Fora (190 kilometers) and Sao Jose dos Campos (220 kilometers).