CSN is selling more steel in the third quarter and at relatively stable prices compared to the immediately previous three months, amid expectations of falling imports and improving demand in China, the company’s commercial director said on Tuesday (16). .
In the second quarter, CSN’s steel sales fell 17% over a year earlier and 8% compared to the first three months of this year, according to results released the night before.
“We have closed sales for the third quarter of the order of 8% to 10% above the second quarter”, said Luis Fernando Martinez, commercial director at CSN, in a conference with analysts. “We’re going to have a more stable pricing situation, but I’m going to fight more on galvanized,” he added.
The executive stated that the company maintains a sales target of around 5 million tons of steel in 2022, of which 3.2 million in Brazil.
But on the investment front, the projected amount of R$4 billion should be reduced in the coming months, said finance director Marcelo Ribeiro at the conference.
“We are ‘rescheduling’ investments and, therefore, we expect a figure reasonably lower than the level of R$ 4 billion”, said the executive. According to Ribeiro, the revision in the projects stems from the uncertainties of the national and international economy at a time of high interest rates.
Ribeiro also said that the company should “potentially” raise the leverage projection in 2022 to “something closer” of 1.4 to 1.5x, compared to the original target of 1x. This is due to the acquisition of the assets of LafargeHolcim and, more recently, of the energy company CEEE-G.
Regarding the acquisition of the Rio Grande do Sul electricity generator, the president of CSN, Benjamin Steinbruch, said at the conference that his group’s energy businesses “eventually” may have a “strategic investor”. “We are going to turn energy into an important business for the group,” said Steinbruch.
The executive commented that CSN continues to prioritize the United States to make new investments and Ribeiro commented that this will only happen if it involves “projects that fit within the company’s conservative capital structure”.
Asked about share buybacks, Ribeiro commented that despite the value of CSN’s shares being “completely displaced from the fundamentals”, the company will launch a program when it has more visibility on capital allocation, something that includes possible opportunities for mergers and acquisitions and investments in the USA.
Regarding CSN’s apparent interest in the mining company Samarco, Ribeiro said that the company even hired advisors to prepare for a potential transaction with the company’s creditors in judicial recovery, but that the possibility of a deal is small.
“We see how low the probability of this situation developing, but we have to stay close to it and well informed”, said the executive.
Source: CNN Brasil
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