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Reuters
28-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Brazilian steel companies' shares fall after government renews tariff system
SAO PAULO, May 28 (Reuters) - Stocks of Brazilian steel companies fell on Wednesday after the government said it would renew for 12 months a system meant to protect the national steel industry, but that steelmakers have said is ineffective. The steel industry began criticizing the quota system almost as soon as it was set up last year, saying it failed to control the flow of imports, mainly from China. Under the system, as long as the import quota is not reached, steel products can enter the country if they pay import tax of between 9% and 16%. If the cap is exceeded, a 25% tariff applies, Brazilian government news outlet Agencia Brasil said. On the first day of trading following the announcement, CSN ( opens new tab was down 4.4%, Usiminas ( opens new tab dropped 3.6% and Gerdau fell ( opens new tab 1.2%. Brazil's benchmark stock index Bovespa fell only 0.5%. The system, which has been expanded to now include 23 steel products, was already criticized by the sector for being too broad. Tuesday's government announcement retained the exclusion - also criticized by the industry - from the quota and tariff system of imports from countries that have trade agreements or negotiated special conditions with Brazil. The steel sector has urged the government to renew the scheme with the inclusion of all steel products in the 25% tariff, as the European Union and the United States have done. Steel imports rose 27.5% year-on-year in the first four months of 2025, reaching 2.2 million metric tons, according to data from the country's steel mills association, Aco Brasil, which did not comment on the matter on Wednesday.
Reuters
06-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
ArcelorMittal sees May as critical for decision on new Brazil investments
SAO PAULO, May 6 (Reuters) - The month of May will be crucial for steelmaker ArcelorMittal ( opens new tab to decide whether it will move forward with fresh investments in Brazil, its head in the country told Reuters on Tuesday, as it approaches the end of its current investment cycle. The approaching deadline for the extension of trade protection measures adopted by the Brazilian government and the import tariffs implemented by U.S. President Donald Trump are relevant factors as ArcelorMittal mulls its next steps. Steelmakers in Latin America's largest economy have long complained of an unfair playing field, saying that China floods the market with cheap material and calling on the government to do more to control those imports. The Brazilian government in April 2024 raised the import tariff on some steel products to 25% for a year, while adopting some surcharge-free import quotas, a measure that is due to be renewed at the end of this month. It did not prevent, however, an increase in steel imports by the country, which rose 11% year-on-year in 2024 and reached in March this year the highest for any month ever, being strongly criticized by steelmakers as insufficient. "We are finishing an investment cycle of 25 billion reais this year and have appetite for at least another 10 billion in the coming years," said ArcelorMittal's head in Brazil, Jorge Oliveira, referring to a cycle that began in 2022 and a second one that would run through 2029. "The impact of imports is a reality that runs counter to the investment appetite of any group." Depending on Brazil's position in defending the local steel industry, Oliveira said, ArcelorMittal may postpone or even cancel investments of up to 4 billion reais in the Tubarao plant in Espirito Santo state, which were announced in February. "A first effect would be to postpone the project's start date, and a much worse effect would be to cancel the project. We are at a critical moment," Oliveira said, citing the possible impacts of a non-extension of the measures approved last year. The executive said that the sector expects the government to "at the very least" extend the measures, but that the sector has been discussing "alternatives" to reinforce them as the current ones "were not sufficient". Other large steelmaking players in Brazil include Gerdau ( opens new tab, Usiminas ( opens new tab and CSN ( opens new tab.
