Russian steelmaker NLMK, which has recently inaugurated a distribution center in the city of Sao Paulo, as well as a logistics office in the city of Sao Francisco do Sul, plans to become a leader in the South American high-resistance heavy plates market.
Even amidst a scenario of pessimism in the nation’s steel industry, the Russian company expects to increase its presence in the local steel market through its distribution center in the city of Sao Paulo, as demand is expected to increase in the coming years.
Paulo Seabra, the company’s general manager for South America, said the company expects to gain market share in the high-resistance heavy plates market in the southern part of Latin America. The company expects to have a 10 percent market share of this segment in the region by the end of this year. Seabra said the high-resistance heavy plates market could reach up to 150,000 mt, but in challenging times the market size could be reduced to 70,000 mt.
“Today, the market leader in this segment dominates 22 percent of the local sales. What we want is to have a 30 percent of the market in the next five years,” the top executive told local media.
NLMK is said to have a EUR 5 million stock to supply its clients across South America.
A media report said NLMK produces all of its crude steel at its headquarters in Lipetsk, Russia. The steel is then transported to its subsidiaries in Europe and in the US to be transformed and then destined to other markets, such as Brazil. In 2014, NLMK used 96 percent of its capacity and produced about 15.9 million mt of crude steel.