Sao Paolo, Brazil-based Usinas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais SA, the Brazilian steelmaker known as Usiminas, announced a 15 percent rise ($495.3 reais; US$288 million) in profit in Q3 Thursday. The company commented that the "overvalued" Brazilian real (Brazil's national currency), which reached a two-year high earlier this month compared to the US dollar, is hurting the nation's steel industry by causing import numbers to surge.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, Brazil's tax agency plans to curb steel imports that may have been priced below actual numbers.
In a statement regarding the company's earnings Thursday, Usiminas said that imports of flat-rolled steel is expected to rise 160 percent this year to 3 million metric tons (mt), a considerably larger number than Brazil's historical average according to figures from the Brazilian Steel Institute.
Crude steel production increased 7 percent to 1.95 mt in Q3, and net sales rose 13 percent.