Brazilian steelmaker Usiminas is currently negotiating with local slab producers to feed its Cubat??o unit in the southeastern state of S??o Paulo, after having had to import the raw material from abroad so far in 2019, sources told Fastmarkets this week.
Brazilian suppliers spent the first part of the year focused on exporting slab to the United States at higher prices than could be achieved in the domestic market.But now that Brazil has all but filled the quota of semi-finished steel it can sell to the US without being subject to Section 232 tariffs, domestic suppliers will be looking to provide slab to local steelmakers.Brazil imported 109,874 tonnes of slab in the January-May period this year, according to data from national distributors' association Inda. About 72,466 tonnes of the total entered the country through Santos port, 20km from Usiminas'...