Posted on 20 Sep 2018
Brazilian steelmakers are set to increase their rolled steel prices for domestic end-users and distributors from 1 October, says Carlos Loureiro, president of the country's national distributors' association (Inda). The head of the organisation released Inda`s latest data on 18 September, Kallanish notes.
According to Loureiro, the price increase will be 5% and is necessary because of the recovery in raw material prices on international markets and rising production costs.
"With the iron ore and coke prices increasing outside Brazil, there is space for higher flat steel prices in the domestic market," says Loureiro. Usiminas and CSN were the first to inform customers about the planned hike for flat steel. It is expected that ArcelorMittal and Gerdau will also raise their prices in October, the executive adds. Local mills are also trying to begin negotiations with the automotive and white goods sectors to secure new contract prices for 2019. These could increase by 25-30%.
"We had higher shipments on a monthly basis mainly due to restocking by end-users aware of the price increases announced by the mills," the president adds. Flat steel sales by Brazilian distributors grew in a month-on-month comparison and were broadly similar year-on-year in August (see Kallanish 19 September). Both sales and purchases of flat steel from distributors and service centres in Brazil will fall by almost -10% month-on-month in September, Inda says.
