The consolidated steel sales at Brazil’s Usiminas decreased by 2pc to 4.105mn mt in 2019 compared to the prior year.
Brazil’s largest steelmaker reported that 3.682mn or 90pc of its steel products were sold in the domestic market while 0.424mn mt were sold in export markets. Its sales volumes increased by 1pc domestically but decreased 23pc in the export market in 2019 when compared with 2018.
The company sold BRL11.442bn ($2.643bn) worth of steel domestically and exported BRL1.276bn worth of its material in 2019.
The Brazilian steelmaker’s iron ore sales increased by 33pc in 2019 to 8.616mn mt from 6.474mn mt in 2018. The company’s weak internal sales which decreased 10pc to 2.185mn in 2019 were offset by a 137pc increase in sales to third parties in the domestic market rising to 1.8mn mt in 2019 compared to the previous year. Iron ore exports increased 41pc to 4.631mn mt.
The company’s average iron ore price increased by 35pc to $93/mt in 2019 from $69/mt in 2018. EBITDA from iron ore sales increased by 265pc to BRL740mm in 2019 compared to the previous year, while the EBITDA margin for iron ore sales increased to 37pc in 2019 from 19pc in 2018.
During the year, the miner also concluded investments to expand its current capacity to 12mn mt/year. Usiminas operates three mining sites in the Serra Azul region (MG), with resources of 2.4bn mt of iron ore. The asset base also includes pellet and sinter feed processing plants.
Usiminas reported net revenue of BRL 14.949bn in 2019, up 9pc from BRL 13.737bn a year ago. Each consecutive quarter’s results increased in net revenue with Q1 2019 at BRL 3.532bn, Q2 at BRL 3.694, Q3 at BRL 3.850bn, and Q4 at BRL 3.873bn.
The company’s adjusted EBITDA for 2019 decreased by 27pc to BRL 1.973bn from BRL 2.693bn in the prior year and its net income decreased by 55pc to 377mn in 2019 compared to 829mn the prior year.
The steelmaker’s capital expenditure increased by 49pc in 2019 to BRL 690mn from BRL 463mn in 2018. Of the total capex, the company allocated BRL 548mn or 79pc to steel division improvements with BRL 131mn or 19pc invested in mining.