Brazilian flats steelmaker Usiminas has shifted its focus in the export market to Mercosur neighbor Argentina, the company said this week in a conference with analysts.
According to Usiminas, Europe accounted for 48 percent of the company’s flats exports in Q3, down from 55 percent in Q2 this year.
On the other hand, Argentina, which accounted for 19 percent of the steelmaker’s exports in Q2, now represents 42 percent of the company’s sales outside Brazil in Q3.
Usiminas also said it has debt in both BRL and USD. The company’s consolidated debt in BRL is about BRL 5.1 billion. In USD, it owes $1.7 billion. Creditors include Brazil’s development bank BNDES, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Banco do Brasil, Itau Unibanco and Bradesco.
Usiminas also said it invested about BRL 15.9 billion from 2007 to 2016.