According to report, Brazilian steelmaker Usiminas may consider to raise its operation close to full capacity if seeing the demand to rise.
Currently the capacity is operated at 80~85 percent. The nominal crude steel capacity is 9.5 million tons one year.
According to the company’s estimation, the domestic market consumed about 3.4 million tons for flat products in the first quarter which 91% came from domestic supply and 9% from imports.
Usiminas produced 1.66 million tons in the first quarter of this year, down by 8% from the fourth quarter of 2012. The first quarter result for net revenue was BRL2.66 billion, but volume down by 5.7% from the fourth quarter of 2012.