While speaking to analysts of the Genial Investimentos financial advisors, Marcelo Chara, CEO of Usiminas, unveiled parameters for the operation of its blast furnaces, efficiency goals, and reduction of the cost of goods sold per mt.
The fuel rate per mt of pig iron produced is expected to be reduced from today’s 520kg/mt to 500 kg/mt, reaching efficiency levels in line with the world’s most advanced blast furnaces.
Before the revamping of the blast furnace number 3, the fuel rate was 600 kg/mt, Chara said, adding that the operations will be based on global benchmarks supplied by the shareholder, Ternium.
Usiminas is also replacing part of the coke used as fuel by pulverized coal injection (PCI), while building a new PCI plant, expected to be complete in 2025.
Chara mentioned that PCI is on average 58 percent less expensive than coke, a factor that more than compensates the need to use 12 percent more PCI in volume when compared to coke.
With completion expected for the second half of 2026, the revamping of the coke plant number 2 will increase the company’s sufficiency in coke from today’s 30 to 45 percent, reducing production costs and improving logistics and operational reliability.
