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ArcelorMittal (NYSE: MT), the world’s largest steelmaker, has suspended a $460 million (R$2.5bn) expansion at the João Monlevada plant in Minas Gerais, Brazil, due to an increase in steel imports.
According to Notícias de Mineração Brasil, demand for steel is not expanding fast enough in the country, which has turn to imports, especially from China.
Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal, controlled by Indian billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, was is the midst of expanding the facilities at Monlevade, Brazil.
“As with any project of this size, the company is monitoring the macroeconomic scenario and the steel industry in the country, which has been impacted by increased imports, and the growth in demand for steel has been lower than expected,” ArcelorMittal said in the statement quoted by Defato Online.
In the January-May period, Brazil’s steel industry experienced the impact of high import levels, which increased a further 26.4% from the same period in 2023 to 2.31 million tonnes, data from the Brazilian Steel Institute, (IABr), shows.
Crude steel production increased by 0.6% year-on-year in the five-month period to 13.56 million tonnes, while domestic sales grew 1.9% to 8.32 million tonnes.
Earlier this year, the Brazilian government introduced import quotas and hiked import taxes to 25% on 11 rolled steel products categories to protect the local industry.
