Heavy plates with 10mm or more in thickness are sold in the Brazilian domestic market by the country’s sole producer Usiminas at BRL2,100/mt ($735/mt), ex-works no taxes, an industry source told SteelOrbis.
According to the source, the price is stable in BRL over the last three months, but reduced in $ terms by 5 percent due to the exchange rate variation.
The stability reflects not only the reduced demand from the local shipbuilding industry, but also the increased competition from imports.
Brazil has actually changed from a net exporter to a net importer of heavy plates, as exports decreased from a peak of 42,800 mt in October 2014 to a mere 2,500 mt in January 2015, while imports increased from 10,000 mt to 18,100 mt over the same period.
In January, the FOB price for such imports, almost entirely from Austria, was $766/mt, while the exports fetched an average FOB price of $815/mt.
1 US$ = BRL 2.83