The price of heavy plates, with more than 10mm in thickness, remains sold in the Brazilian domestic market at $690/mt, the same price over one month in BRL terms, although in $ terms the price declined by 6 percent in the period due to exchange rate variation.
The country’s sole producer of heavy plates, Usiminas, is facing competition from imports, which reached 21,800 mt in February, 21 percent more than in January, at an average FOB price of $713/mt, 7 percent lower.
The supply of the imported heavy plates is dominated by Austria, which shipped 18,100 mt in February, at $740/mt FOB.
Meanwhile, the country’s exports of the product remain moving down, reaching only 314 mt in February, in a downward trend since a peak of 42,800 mt was exported in 2014.
A major trader told SteelOrbis that he expects that the country’s exports of heavy plates should increase over the next few months, reflecting not only the gains in price competitiveness derived from the devaluation of the BRL, but also due to suspension of acquisitions by the official oil company Petrobras, currently undergoing investigation on accusations of corruption.