Brazilian steelmakers Gerdau and CSN attribute their long steel price hikes in the first half of 2018 to higher raw material and domestic freight costs, adding further increases are possible in the second half of the year.
"CSN applied price hikes of as much as 16% for its longs products since the start of the year," CSN commercial director Luis Fernand Martinez said during a conference call with analysts Wednesday, adding that additional hikes were likely during the second half.
"It was margin recovery," Gerdau CEO Gustavo Werneck said during the company's Q2 earnings call, noting in particular raw material costs. The executive did not provide any details on size of the increases introduced by the company so far.
A two-week trucker strike across Brazil in May and the resulting introduction of a minimum freight tariff by the National Land Transport Agency (ANTT) also increased costs and significantly affected inflation, according to the executives.
