Brazilian flat steelmaker Usiminas will resume operations of its No.2 blast furnace at the Ipatinga mill in Minas Gerais by June 2021, spending $13.1mn to restart the equipment of the mill. The BF is capable of producing 600,000mt of finished steel per year.
According to a statement on Dec 16, Usiminas increased its steel production and sales by volume in the past month and a half, bringing production and sales back to levels similar to Q1 2020. The company produced 533,000mt of steel from Nov 1-Dec 15, equivalent to a daily output of 11,800mt, up by 0.2pc from the daily average in Q1 2020, and better by 6.4pc compared with the daily average in 2019.
The company’s total sales volume reached 577, 600mt during the same period, 11.5pc up from the Q1 2020 and 14.1pc up from 2019. Domestic sales accounted for 559,200mt of total sales in this timeframe, up 23.5pc from Q1.
For reference, Usiminas’ finished steel production in Q1 2020 reached 1.07mn mt and 4.06mn mt in 2019, while sales stood at 1.04mn mt in Q1 2020 and 4.10mn mt in 2019.
The steelmaker also approved the sale of its headquarters (HQ) building to a medical charity for BRL130mn ($2.5mn) but has not disclosed the new HQ location.
($1 = BRL5.10)