ArcelorMittal, one of the world's largest steelmakers, plans to invest more than R$10 billion in its Brazilian operations in the coming years, after a drop in Chinese steel imports eased pressure on domestic mills. The plan was laid out by Jorge Oliveira, CEO of ArcelorMittal Brasil, in an interview with Folha de S.Paulo published on Thursday.
Oliveira credits the renewed appetite for investment to antidumping measures the government applied, for up to five years, on steel imported from China and India. According to Instituto Aço Brasil, the industry group, Brazilian imports of steel products fell 17.6% in the first half of this year compared with the same period of 2025. The share of imported steel in the domestic market, which topped 25% in January, fell back to about 16% in July and August, based on data from the Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services compiled by the institute. Along the same lines, Bloomberg Línea reported that Aço Brasil expects imports to drop 15% in 2026, to 4.9 million tonnes.
"There is no way to say the measures did not help. They did. After a long debate with the government, pragmatism is starting to work," Oliveira told Folha. "But we are still far from a bearable level, which would be around 10% by the historical average."
Where the money goes
About half of the planned outlay will go to the Tubarão plant in Serra, Espírito Santo state, where the company will install a cold strip mill and a continuous coating line with capacity for 560,000 tonnes a year. The new line, expected to start operating in 2030, will turn out higher value-added steel for the automotive, construction and home appliance industries. The company is also in the final stage of feasibility studies to expand its plant at the Pecém Industrial and Port Complex in Ceará state, which today only produces semi-finished steel slabs. The project would convert those slabs into coils for the domestic market.
The new cycle adds to a R$25 billion plan begun in 2022, of which slightly less than half has yet to be carried out. The company had threatened to halt investment in Brazil if the government did not curb Chinese steel. "We are ready to invest, as long as the import equation is right for our growth. Today's decision is long term and goes beyond any one administration," the CEO said.
Brazil is the group's second largest market, behind only the United States. In the second quarter of this year, the Brazilian operation posted revenue of US$3.15 billion, up 12.2% from the first quarter, and Ebitda of US$401 million, a 20% gain on the same basis. Construction accounts for 37% of national revenue, the automotive sector for 25% and capital goods for 15%. Oliveira also pointed to the advance of Chinese cars, which arrive in Brazil as assembly kits and do not buy Brazilian steel, and called for an agenda to cut the so-called custo Brasil (the high cost of doing business in the country), along with natural gas and energy prices. According to consultancy Worldsteel, Brazil accounts for 1.8% of global crude steel output, the ninth largest producer; China holds 51.9%.
For the supply chain, the outlay strengthens local output of higher value-added flat steel in Espírito Santo and Ceará and reduces reliance on imported coils. For buyers such as carmakers, builders and appliance manufacturers, it promises a more stable domestic source of supply, though any effect on prices will only show once the new lines come online from 2030.