Brazilian steelmaker Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN) told analysts this week the US decision to impose a 25 percent import tariff is irrelevant for the local producer.
CSN CEO Benjamin Steinbruch said the company exported 350,000 mt of steel to the US last year, about 6 percent of the steelmaker’s output.
“We have already directed these 350,000 mt of steel to the domestic market due to the recovery of the Brazilian economy,” Steinbruch said.
Steinbruch said Brazil exported a combined 5 million mt of steel to the US in 2017, including nearly 4 million mt of slab, sent mainly by the former Companhia Siderurgica do Atlantico (CSA), now Ternium Brasil.
“The remaining 1 million was made up of 500,000 mt of longs and 500,000 mt of flat steel products. Out of that flat steel, 350,000 mt was CSN’s and 150,000 mt Usiminas’,” the CEO said.
“I doubt the US will make anything against the semi-finished. I don’t see how the US can survive without importing slab,” he said.
A recent Moody’s report said the imports tariff would have a “manageable” effect into the local steelmakers, including CSN.
“CSN directly exports only about 5 percent of its steel sales volumes from Brazil, but does sell part of its production from Brazil to CSN LLC, its own US operations, which produce cold-rolled and galvanized products using raw materials acquired in the local market or imported from other producers - including CSN in Brazil. CSN’s operations abroad, represented by LLC in the US, SWT in Germany, and Lusosider in Portugal, together contribute to about 35 percent of its total steel sales,” the Moody’s report noted.