Brazil’s Gerdau group has halted operations at its Maracanaú plant, located in the northeastern state of Ceará. According to the local press, 600 workers, which had their contracts suspended since July, have been laid off.
The move is in line with the declaration made last week by Gerdau’s CEO, Gustavo Werneck, that the situation of these workers could not be maintained indefinitely, unless the government authorities impose a 25 percent import tariff for steel products, as an alternative to reduce the volume of imported steel products, originated chiefly from China and Russia.
The current import tax for steel products in Brazil ranges from 9.6 to 12.8 percent, figures considered by the Brazilian steel producers as not sufficient to reduce the volume of imports, which have increased on yearly basis by 48.6 percent to 3.2 million mt between January and August.
In their view, Brazil should adopt a higher import tax for steel products, an alternative already adopted by Mexico, the US, the EU and some countries in South America.