Thank you for holding. We would like to Welcome Everybody to CSN Mineração's Conference Call to present the results for the quarter 2024 and full year. Joining us today are the company's executive officers. We would like to inform you that this event is being recorded, and all participants will be in listen-only mode during the company presentation. Ensuing the company's remarks, there will be a Q&A session, at which time further instructions will be given. Should you require assistance, please go to our site, where we also have the slide deck. The replay of this event will be available soon after the conclusion. Before proceeding, we would like to state that some of the forward-looking statements are expectations or trends based on current assumptions and opinions of the company management. They could differ materially from those expressed herein as they do not constitute projections.
In fact, actual results, performance, or events may differ materially from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. As a result of general and economic conditions in Brazil and other countries, interest rates and exchange rate levels, future rescheduling and prepayment of debt pegged in foreign currencies, protectionist measures in the U.S., Brazil, and other countries, changes in laws and regulations, and general competitive factors at a global, regional, or national level, we would now like to turn the floor over to Mr. Pedro Oliva, Investor Relations Executive Officer and the CFO, to present the company's operating and financial highlights for the period. Mr. Oliva, you may proceed.
Good morning, everybody. I would like to begin by thanking you all for your attendance at the CSN Mineração call. We begin with the highlights for the fourth quarter and full year of 2024.
We had the highest own production since 2019. We delivered annual growth of 3.7 million tons, quite higher than the 2.5 million tons that we had expected throughout the CSN Day 2023, which was a forecast for 2024. This allowed us to comply with the guidance of purchases of 42,000 tons, although we had an increase in the number of tons. We decided to prioritize margins instead of volume and helped us in a better dilution of fixed costs, along with the exchange rate devaluation and everything else we did to offset price. We reached that ceiling of $21, below the guidance that was $21.5-$23 per ton. The record of shipment at Pecar, the company port, reached a volume of 38.5 million tons exported. 100% of the exports of CSN Mineração were done through our own port, generating savings of BRL 235 million compared to the previous year.
Now, this strong performance with a volume of 42.5 million tons sold is how we ended the year. Regarding the fourth quarter, the company reached BRL 2 billion in EBITDA, with a margin higher than 50%, 51.6% of EBITDA margin during the period. I conclude the highlights speaking of the growth of 352% in the company's profit that reached BRL 2 billion in the fourth quarter 2024. In this next slide, we have data on production and the iron ore purchase. We had a slight drop recorded in the period compared to the previous quarter, explained by seasonality with the beginning of the rainfall. In 2024, the company adopted the strategy of prioritizing margin in detriment of volume, and this reduction in purchase volume was offset with a strong level of production, allowing the company to reach its guidance of 42-43 million tons.
Throughout the year, the company made the most of the Chinese demand for low-grade iron ore, reducing its inventory by 17.1%, 3.4 million tons. When it comes to the sales in the fourth quarter, we sold 10.7 million tons and for the year, 42.5 million tons. 100% of the exports totaled, well, came from our ore production and reached a record volume shipped out. Unit net revenue in the fourth quarter grew 31% from BRL 2.9 billion to BRL 3.1 billion because of the prices realized, and the positive effect of shipments for futures would help us offset the volume that dropped because of the rainfall period. Now, revenues were BRL 29.3 billion, had a drop because of the drop of iron ore during the year and because we were working with low-grade ore. This, of course, did not stop us from reaching higher levels during the year.
In terms of price realization, between the third quarter and fourth quarter of 2024, we had a unit cost of $61.7 with a growth of $15.8 compared to the price that we had in the past quarter. Now, these prices are explained partially by the growth of flat as flat grew only $3.7 during the period and a lower adjustment in terms of quality of $15.4 compared to $16.8 in the previous quarter, $2.4 less in terms of adjustment, sea freight of $21, $2.3 less than in the previous quarter. When it comes to shipments for futures, we had a positive impact of $4.55 vis-à-vis the negative impact of minus $2 in the previous quarter. The difference was $6.6. This allowed us the growth of $15.8 in the price realization for the company.
Regarding the cost of goods sold, we had a cost of BRL 1.8 million in the fourth quarter 2024 and for the year, BRL 6.8 billion. Now, this represents a drop of 21.9% when compared to the previous year, once again due to the strategy that we mentioned of reducing the purchase volume and impacted by the drop in flat. That is why we had lower prices in purchases from third parties. EBITDA margin reaching BRL 2 billion during the period and BRL 5.9 billion in 2024 as a whole. The growth in the quarter can be explained by a price recovery, but also because of the sound operating results.
Now, regarding the variation of adjusted EBITDA in the quarter, it was from BRL 1.5 billion to BRL 2 billion, thanks to the combination of several factors: an increase in iron ore price, a lower pressure of freight, a positive impact because of the depreciation of exchange rate, and the shipments that were exposed to future periods with an impact of BRL 35 million. Now, when it comes to our investments, the company ended the quarter with BRL 659 million. I highlight the growth of expansion CAPEX that grew BRL 100 million quarter on quarter, and we reached a total CAPEX of BRL 1.8 billion, representing a growth of 20.7%. This growth of CAPEX helps us to explain how we attained our operating goals and also the advance of the works of P15 and, of course, the advances in the site infrastructure.
In the following slides, we speak about working capital, net working capital with a growth quarter on quarter. We ended up at BRL 194 million negative, explained by the increase in accounts receivable because of the price increase. We went to BRL 1.5 million, which will, of course, aid and affect the results of the coming quarters. Regarding our indebtedness profile, we have a long amortization period of 61 months. We ended 2024 with BRL 15.2 billion in availability, significant advances vis-à-vis the previous quarter, despite the payment of BRL 3 billion of dividends at the end of 2024. This is thanks to the strong operational EBITDA of BRL 2 billion and the depreciation of exchange rate, new contracts, and payments. Here we see a positive adjusted cash of BRL 2 billion, despite the increase in net working capital and the increase in investments.
Now, all of this was supported by a very strong EBITDA of BRL 2 billion for the year 2024. Regarding net income, we had a growth of BRL 446 million in the previous quarter to BRL 2 million. This represents an increase of 352%, and for the year, it was a growth of 27% from BRL 3.5 million to BRL 4.5 million. The recovery of the iron ore price is at the base of this enhancement, besides our operational improvement, and we also had record volumes exported, a reduction of costs, and the exchange rate devaluation. Now, to conclude, we would like to point out the main ESG factors in our governance agenda. We were placed eighth in 100 and some companies assessed by ESG globally, and for the first time, we were listed in the FTSE4Good portfolio.
On the diversity front, we had a growth of 100% in terms of female representation. In 2024, we reached the goal that we had set forth for 2024. In the environmental agenda, we had 10% in the CO2 emissions per ton of iron ore produced. All of this based on data from 2020 and a reduction of 73% in the intensity of use of water per ton of iron ore produced. With this, we would like to conclude the presentation. We do have Mr. Benjamin Steinbruch, the Chairman from the company, and Carlos Melo, Director Superintendent of CMIN. We can now go on to the question and answer session.
Thank you. We will now go on to the question and answer session. For investors and analysts, should you have a question, please click on "Raise Hand" or send your question through the Q&A icon. Our first question comes from Mr. Ricardo Monegaglia from Safra. Your microphone has been unmuted.
Good morning, everybody. Thank you for taking our questions. Pedro, Benjamin, I begin with the outlook of the company for price, demand, and supply of iron ore. We seem to have more enthusiastic news coming from China. We would like to know if this is the company vision as well, if you have a short-term concern that could cause a slump in iron ore. If you have carried out an assessment, we know it is difficult, but if you have made an assessment of this war on tariffs on the quality of products of iron ore. Another question that refers to prepayment, I would like to better understand if the company is very close to that limit where it would feel comfortable having in terms of future production, in terms of those contracts.
I would like to confirm a figure. We have an estimate that you have 52 million tons approximately in contracts for delivery, depending on the term of the contract. It would be interesting to hear about this. At the end of that question, I see that the balance of delivery this year in a period of less than one year is BRL 3 million. Perhaps this will impact your cash at CSN Mineração. Is there a scenario where the delivery could be postponed? Is it something that could happen, or are those values clearly defined? This is what we will see in 2025. Thank you for the opportunity.
Ricardo, thank you for the questions. Now, regarding the market, we have a very constructive view. There have been rumors regarding the potential of a reduction of 50 million tons of reduction coming from China.
The state government has denied these plans, and they are presenting a plan to review capacity to close at a more efficient capacity. In practice, we have not seen anything so far. The use of furnaces was 85.2% up to date compared to 3.1% last year, and we had used furnaces at 2.1%. Now we are at 86.2%, which we understand to be a very healthy level. The use of electric furnaces in China dropped to 32.8% from 34.4%. Perhaps, or despite the use of these furnaces, we see a reduction in the steel inventories of China. A year ago, they were at 135 some tons. They are now at 107. There was a drop of 9.8 tons. Along with that strong use of the furnaces, we see a reduction of inventories at the Chinese ports.
They now have 145.8 million with a drop in the last few weeks, explained by the impact in supply due to the typhoon that we had in Australia at the beginning of the year, an expectation of loss of 6 million tons. Now, in this context where the Chinese government has a goal to grow 5% and a growth of deficit of 4%, we see therefore that the state is trying to stimulate the economy, create new areas of consumption, and they want to foster a healthy development of the real estate market by reducing the inventory. They have taken very good initiatives for affordable housing in China. We see a scenario that they will maintain their production of steel, but there will be a reduction in exports because of the tariffs once again.
Now, this expectation is based on the fact that some companies are going to opt for Chinese steel. What we see is a healthy, balanced market sustaining that level of $100-$110 per ton. To answer your second question referring to prepayments, if I'm not mistaken, we are at 49.2 million tons. We have a maturity of 3 million tons this year that represents $560 million. Our mindset is not that we're close to the limit. We deem this level to be adequate, and we're going to roll the maturities this year. We're going to do what we have to do to comply with the contracts for prepayment and work with new amounts equivalent to the maturity so that this will not have an impact on the company's cash generation.
Excellent. Thank you very much, Pedro.
The next question comes from Bárbara Soares from Itaú BBA. Your microphone has been activated.
Good morning. Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you well, Barbara. Good morning, everybody. Congratulations for your results, and thank you for taking our questions. There are two questions. The first referring to third-party purchases. In the last call, you mentioned you could increase the volume purchase from third parties because of the rainfall. What is the proportion for this half of which was the proportion, and what can we imagine for the first half of 2025? What is your view of the volume? In January, we had very good data, but when we look at February, there is a significant drop of 10%.
Thank you. Barbara, thank you for the questions. Now, regarding the purchase volumes, in the fourth quarter, we purchased 3.4 million, as we had mentioned, more than the 2.4 we had purchased the previous quarter. This was expected because of the impact of our own production. The proportion of purchases compared to sales reached 34%, compared with an average of 23%. For 2025, we believe we will have a level of 25%, the total of purchases vis-à-vis sales. Regarding the production projected for the first half, we're in mid-March. We still have another fortnight. It will depend on what we have realized, but the outlook is that this will be a positive half of the year with slightly higher volumes of our own production compared to the same period last year.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Our next question comes from Guilherme from XP. Your microphone has been activated. Good morning, Pedro, Benjamin, Carlos.
Thank you for taking my question. Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you well. Guilherme, you can proceed. We have two questions that are in for the first. I would like to hear about the advance of the works in T15. In the last quarter, you mentioned that you would begin the civil work. If you could give us more detail in terms of the advance of those civil works. My second question is a follow-up regarding your mix of own production and that of third parties. The iron ore inventories had a drop during the last year and throughout the last quarters, partially explained by the impact of seasonality and a reduction in the purchase of inventory of third parties. Is your inventory level at present normalized? How will we see a recomposition if it has not been normalized throughout 2025? These are my questions.
Thank you. Thank you for the questions, Guilherme, regarding the P15 works. Luckily, they're advancing well. In Minas Gerais, the advance was good. We're working with drainage, the infrastructure, and we're completing the pipes for the feeding of the plant. In terms of infrastructure, we have advanced negotiations. They will be contracted still in 2025 and begun in 2025. The P15 schedule will be maintained. Now, regarding the MIC, we understand that some inventory is necessary for operations, and we deem this level to be normal. We don't expect relevant variations during the year.
Thank you very much.
Our next question comes from Rafael Barcellos from Itaú BBI. Your microphone has been activated.
Good morning, everybody. Thank you for taking the questions. Many of these questions have been answered, but I would like to have more details on the price dynamic, what you expect in this first half of the year, and capital allocation and CAPEX. Could you update us on other projects besides P15 that you will put into practice this year and which will be your CAPEX needs, not only for this year, but for coming years as well?
Thank you for the questions. Now, regarding cost, naturally, in the first quarter, we have lower volumes because of the rainfall. For the reasons that I already remarked on, we expect to have a volume that will be marginally better than the previous quarter. This will help us with fixed costs. We have important initiatives in terms of costs, the cost at the mine.
We have a polymer that we're now using, and all of this should help us to further seek a cost reduction. We expect to have a C1 somewhat lower vis-à-vis the same period last year. Regarding the CAPEX, the P15, of course, remains our main project, but we do have others. The expansion of the port is important to outflow the volumes of Casa de Pedra. We have an advance in the contracting of the offshore part of that expansion for 60 million tons. The PD's plant, we mentioned in the last quarter that we had a possible partnership. This means a third person will develop the plant, and we will share the results generated. Another project that is important is called B4, I believe, for processing. We are doing well in the technical part, the engineering part.
We're now carrying out a review of the French engineering, which is top quality. We have to work on other supplier alternatives. We should have further news during the year, and of course, this will be shared with the market. Now, regarding CAPEX for the coming years, naturally, the amount of CAPEX will grow. We have BRL 3.2 billion for the execution in the next five years, with an average CAPEX of BRL 2.6 million per year for expansion. Naturally, we are going to carry out a higher level of investments in the coming years. We had BRL 1.8 billion total for CAPEX last year. This year, we should be closer to BRL 2 billion, BRL 2.5 billion, and this will increase steadily until the year 2027.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
The next question is from Marcelo Arazi from BTG Pactual. Your microphone has been activated.
I would like to go back to the market discussion. As you mentioned, we see an increase in the iron ore price. At the beginning of the year, it was closer to $100. Perhaps you could give us a view of what you expect for the rest of the year and the entrance of Simandou. There should be a volume from this project this year. Which is your vision on this? Thank you.
Marcelo, thank you for the question. We will try to give you more detail in terms of our market vision. The margins of this Chinese steel plant continue to be negative by $20 per ton. There is an interesting evolution, another indicator. The percentage of Chinese steel plants in 2024, it was 1.3%. The percentage today is 53%. Almost half of the sector, therefore, is losing money.
We have to acknowledge there is a significant advance, and this generates a positive dynamic in the market. Regarding Simandou, the volume this year will continue to be symbolic. We don't think we will have symbolic volumes. The ramp-up of the project, along with other factors, a reduction in the iron ore demand in China, offset by India, the Middle East, and some Asian countries, shows us a market that is convergent. Now, this long-term should not be very different from where we are at present, very close to those $100. The coming year, perhaps $92, which will be the price for the long-term. The entrance of Simandou should make the prices converge, cost balance, therefore. A point that I did not touch upon that is relevant, the issue of freights.
Freights dropped $7.3 per ton, naturally, for iron ore, but this has a direct impact on our FOB price. This is very positive. We have already closed a volume of 9.5 million tons at an average price of $21. This is something that should help us in realizing price and margins for the company throughout 2025. Now, in terms of price, we are working with hedging once again, taking advantage of the price we had some weeks ago, 2.4 million tons sold at $107.7. This was the first quartile of the range we foresaw last year. That was $110. This represents more than $70 million in this open position. That was very clear.
Thank you very much.
The next question comes from Yuri Pereira from Santander. Your microphone has been activated.
Good morning. Thank you and congratulations for your results that are very good. Still speaking about the market, I would like to get a whiff of the demand, the low-grade demand in China, if you see this for the first quarter. And if you have a commercial strategy for this, we will see an improvement in the price realized because of this situation. Thank you.
Yuri, thank you for the question. Now, the demand for low-grade in China is not very strong, and demand at the beginning of the year was not strong. This allowed the company to negotiate other levels for what we want to bring to the market, better levels than those we negotiated last year. This should help us in price realization during the year. In terms of the share of these opportunity volumes, as this window is open in the Chinese market, although it is very attractive, we have adopted measures for an enhancement of quality.
The low-grade percentage should drop consecutively because of this. Thank you.
The next question comes from Eugenia Caballero from Morgan Stanley. Your microphone has been activated.
Can you hear me?
Yes, we can hear you, Eugenia. You may proceed.
Good morning and thank you for taking our questions. I would like to gain an understanding of what is happening with your dividends, especially because of the CapEx you have for your projects and the working capital dynamic for the year, if we should expect any relevant change. Thank you.
Thank you for the question in terms of the share buyback. We have a buyback program of BRL 100 million that extends to December 19th this year. We have already sold BRL 53.2 million. This is our mandate to continue buying, something we have not done in the last few months. It is a possibility that is still open.
Regarding the working capital, we had the assessment in the third quarter because of the price increase, and it generates the volume of purchases and the volumes of iron ore. As the price is relatively flat, we do not expect great fluctuations in working capital. On the dividend front, we had BRL 3 billion in December of last year. Our distribution policy is 80-100% of net profit. Because of the comfortable cash position of more than BRL 15 billion, the company has a negative leverage of 0.79 times EBITDA. We are comfortable in maintaining this payout policy. Of course, all of this will depend on the results we attain this year. We have cost control, operational enhancements, and reasonably stable prices in the market. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
The next question comes from Barbara Suarez from Itaú BBA. Your microphone has been activated.
Simply a follow-up. In terms of prepayment, you have 49.2 million tons open for this year, 13 million equivalent to 560. I don't know if you remarked on this, which is the size of the new contracts that you signed in the last quarter.
Hello, Barbara. I think you have the data correctly. We still had not mentioned the amount for prepayment, $356 million of new prepayment amortization, somewhat above $15 million and $350 million net positive for cash from these contracts. So we can consider the $350 million as the new prepayments. We had two prepayments jointly that totaled $355 million.
Very well. Thank you.
Our next question is in writing from Mr. Igor Silva, an investor. He says, how has the company prepared for the tariff war, both by the United States and the entire world at this point?
Igor, thank you for the question. Of course, this is a very relevant topic, especially in the steel sector. The movements in the U.S. are not isolated. We see the Chinese market, which was a relevant destination, introducing new tariffs. The same holds true for Korea with their anti-dumping law. We see the market closing down. Now, the American market imports steel, historically has done so, and it does not import iron ore. When we speak about the iron ore market, we're mostly referring to China. The trend is for the market to close in terms of Chinese steel. There is a projection in a reduction in the export volumes. The estimate that we have now is something close to 100 million tons.
An indirect impact, of course, but we also have the impacts of Australia, where the demand and supply of iron ore has led to lower inventories of iron ore and steel. Now, in China, there is a healthy dynamic that should sustain the level of prices at $100 per ton.
As we have no further questions, I will now return the floor to Mr. Pedro Oliva, the CFO and the IRO for CSN Mineração.
Once again, I would like to thank all of you for your attendance at this earnings call. We celebrate the results we attained this year with an expressive growth in net revenue, a reduction of costs, increases of our own production above what we had planned. I would like to thank all of our associates who jointly have made these new levels of delivery possible. Have a good day. Thank you.
The conference call for CSN Mining and TIR, have a very good day.