A two-week nation-wide strike by Brazilian truck drivers will cost the local steel industry about BRL 4.3 billion ($1.1 billion), the local steel association, IABr, said on Thursday.
According to IABr’s data, the local steel industry lost BRL 1.1 billion ($281.4 million) due to halts in steel production.
New minimum freight rates, enacted after the government’s discussions with demonstrators to end the strike, will cost the steel industry another BRL 3.3 billion ($844.4 million).
IABr also claimed that a Brazilian government decision to reduce the “pay-back” export program (Reintegra) to 0.1 percent from 2 percent.
IABr has long defended in the past few events it has held or attended, including the Brazil Steel Congress last year, that Reintegra was key to stimulate the local steel sector. The pay-back export program was intended to increase from 2 to 3 percent, but changes in the country’s fiscal policy, aimed at reducing debt, reduced it to 0.1 percent.