Brazilian Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN) estimates that the new US import tariffs for steel products will not have major impact on its market, namely the flats sector, according to the company`s ceo Benjamin Steinbruch. He was speaking during a meeting with analysts in Sao Paulo held on 14 February and monitored by Kallanish.

Brazil continues to be the leading exporter of steel products to the US from Latin America and the second largest worldwide. During 2017, Brazilian shipments to the US reached 5,022,557t,data from the US Census Bureau data show. Most of these shipments were semi-finished products (3.7mt).

During last year, CSN`s exports to the US market amounted to 350,000t of flat steel, -8% less compared to 2016. 85% of these exports were of HDG. “The US Section 232 measures will not have a major impact on the Brazilian market. Those 350,000t will be re-directed to the recovering domestic market, which saw increased demand in the automotive and construction sectors," says Steinbruch.

Overall CSN exported almost all of the 396,000t of flat products sold from Brazil to the US. In 2015 Brazil exported over 1mt of flat products to the US, but the volumes have been falling significantly since local domestic Brazilian demand started picking up again.

The main problem for the Brazilian steel industry going forward could be the excess of imports re-directed from other countries by the US tariffs, which should be monitored by the Brazilian government, Steinbruch adds.

The country imports of steel in 2017 increased to 2.32 million tonnes, up 23.9% compared to 2016, says the local steelmakers’ association Instituto Aço Brasil (IAB). Flat steel arrivals totalled 1.46mt, up 72.3% year-on-year, while long steel imports reach 464,000t, a -4.3% decline compared with 2016.