Brazilian flats steelmaker Usiminas should “soon” complete a deal to purchase less iron ore from MUSA, its mining arm, as output at Usiminas’ Cubatao mill remains halted, a top executive told analysts this week during a conference call.
Sergio Leite, Usiminas’ CEO, said the deal should be completed in the “next few months.”
Usiminas and MUSA agreed that the flats steelmaker would reduce its purchases of iron ore from 4 million mt/year to 2.5 million mt/year. Due to the shutdown of the Cubatao mill, Usiminas could not honor the purchase contract. The deal with MUSA represents Usiminas’ largest supplier contract.
Usiminas also said it should resume iron ore operations at MUSA in the next four or five months. The company said iron ore exports would be competitive at current price levels. It said it has an iron ore product with a 64 percent Fe content, which has a “good acceptance in the market.”
Usiminas’ forecast to resume iron ore production within five months will depend on different market conditions, the company said.
As for the Cubatao mill, Usiminas said it could restart the mill’s blast furnaces in the next three of five years.