Usiminas narrows Q1 loss

Brazilian steelmaker Usiminas reported a first quarter loss of 151mn reais (US$42.6mn), compared to a loss of 235mn reais in the same period last year.

Revenue fell 15% to 2.04bn reais from 2.68bn reais, which was attributed to lower sales volumes of the steel and capital goods units, partially compensated for by higher sales volumes of the mining and steel processing units, the company said in its latest earnings release.

Adjusted Ebitda fell to 52mn reais from 380mn reais, while adjusted Ebitda margins were down to 3% from 14% in the same quarter of 2015.

Crude steel production fell 33% year-on-year to 794,000t, as a result of the ending of production of pig iron at the Cubatão plant, due to the temporary shutdown of the primary areas at the plant.

Steel sales volume dropped to 903,000t from 1.26Mt due to the stagnation of the domestic market, Usiminas said.

The company's mining arm, Mineração Usiminas (MUSA), produced 701,000t of iron ore during Q1, compared with 1.46Mt in the year-ago period. Iron ore sales declined to 974,000t from 1.14Mt.