Brazilian flats steelmaker Usiminas turned back to profit in Q1, the company said on Tuesday, while releasing its quarterly results.
Usiminas went from a BRL 151 million ($48.04 million) net loss in Q1 2016 to a BRL 108 million ($34.3 million) net profit in Q1 this year.
Increased revenues and diminished cost of products helped it achieve a BRL 481 million ($153 million) gross profit in Q1, when compared to the BRL 41 million ($13.04 million) gross loss it reported in the same quarter of the year prior.
Usiminas said net revenues of BRL 2.3 billion in Q1 rose 15.2 percent year-on-year, and increased 11 percent quarter-on-quarter.
Steel sales volumes in Q1 rose 3 percent, year-on-year, and 4 percent, quarter-on-quarter, to 930,000 mt, while iron ore sales volumes in the same period fell 34 percent, year-on-year, and 2 percent, quarter-on-quarter, to 643,000 mt.