The steel market plays a significant role in the country’s economy and development, and even with the economic impacts caused by Covid-19, the sector presents positive prospects for 2021. Steel production is expected to grow 11.3% this year, while sales should rise 12.9% and consumption, 15%.
According to data from the Brazil Steel Institute, the first five months of this year were of positive results for the steel industry in the country. From January to May 2021, production reached 14.9 million tons, which represents an increase of 20.3% compared to the same period last year, which results in the highest in the historical series. Today, the capacity utilization percentage is 74.4%, the highest utilization since October 2018.
For Ian Corrêa, vice president of Grupo Aço Cearense, the company that owns SINOBRAS – Siderúrgica Norte Brasil S.A, the first integrated steel company in the North and Northeast regions of Brazil, the steel industry is in a good moment. “Currently, the demand for steel is growing due to the consumption of sectors that need steel. The market is supplied, our deliveries are on time and, thinking about the future and the growth in demand, we are resuming the SINOBRAS expansion project. We are very optimistic about the results and forecasts for the market”, he explains.
The company, which has a production capacity of 380,000 tons of steel/year, has an expansion project in progress where it will have a production capacity of 880,000 tons/year. The investment includes the installation of a second rolling mill, with a production capacity of 500 thousand tons/year of finished steel; and a new 230kV substation and transmission line, which aims to meet the company’s new electrical load needs and enable the use of energy from the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Power Plant, of which SINOBRAS is a partner as a self-producer.
