Brazilian exports of iron ore are not feasible at this time, a Gerdau executive said on Monday.
According to Andre Gerdau Johannpeter, CEO at Gerdau, iron ore prices should be between $85/mt and $90/mt to make exports of the product from Brazil possible.
The executive also said it sees “great declines” in the consumption of a number of segments, since Brazil has been passing through a “challenging” year.
In a meeting with investors in New York, Johannpeter said Gerdau is currently analyzing if it will need to lay off more people or halt operations at its melt shops, as it did last year at its mills in the states of Parana and Bahia.
“We have no specific plans [for idling mills], but we’re monitoring the market very closely month a month,” he said.
Andre Dias, vice president of finance at Gerdau, said the company expects to stick with its plan of investing BRL 1.9 billion this year.
“For us, it’s very important to be very selective in the Capex,” he said.