According to a report by analysts of Genial Investimentos, the Brazilian steel and iron ore producer CSN had inefficiencies during the first quarter at its Volta Redonda steel production plant.
Such inefficiencies, which have impacted results in that period, are also expected to impact the results of the second quarter, although in a smaller scale.
In the view of the analysts, all the difficulties derived from a small problem: internal locomotion difficulties in the plant, which had a large impact due to the inertia by the company in taking an attitude of solution.
With such problem, steel sales in the domestic market declined in volume by 15 percent in the first quarter of 2023 from the same period in 2022, while with the partial solution of the problem, the volume is expected to increase in the second quarter by 1.5 percent from the previous quarter, achieving normal volumes during the second half of the year.
Conversely, the iron ore mining activity of CSN is operating at full pace, with logistics problems solved, and with expectations that the production guidance for 2023, 39-41 million mt, will be met or even exceeded.