Brazilian flats steelmaker Usiminas will increase its capital expenditure by 50pc to BRL1.85bn ($355mn) to repair No. 3 blast furnace (BF) located at the Ipatinga mill in Minas Gerais, Brazil.
The hiked investment is aimed at expanding the scope of the project, hedging against the devaluation of the Brazilian currency, and an increase in the costs of materials and services required for the renovation, Usiminas explained. Construction work to enhance BF will begin in H1 2022 and be commissioned in 2023.
Usiminas’ steel sales volumes fell by 16pc to 2.6mn mt in the first nine months of 2020, down from 3.1mn mt in the prior-year period. The company’s crude steel production also declined by 20pc to 1.3mn mt in H1 2020, from 1.6mn mt recorded in the prior-year period.
Meanwhile, Brazil’s crude steel output rose by 3.5pc to 2.7mn mt in October this year, from 2.6mn mt in the same month last year, according to the latest figures released by the World Steel Association (worldsteel).
($1 = BRL5.23)