Good morning, and thank you for holding. Welcome to CSN Mineração earnings conference call for the fourth quarter of 2025 and the year of 2025. Today, we have with us the company's officers. Please be advised that this event is being recorded and all participants will be in listen-only mode during the company's presentation. Next, we begin the Q&A session when further instructions will be given. Today's event can be accessed at CSN Mineração Investor Relations website, ri.csnmineracao.com.br, where the presentation is available. The replay of this event will be available shortly after it ends. Before proceeding, we would like to clarify that some of the statements contained herein are merely expectations or trends and are based on the management's current assumptions and perspectives. There can be material variations between results, performance and future events, and they do not constitute projections.
Actual results, performance and events may differ significantly from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, such as results of various factors and general economic conditions in Brazil and other countries' interest rate and exchange rate levels, future negotiations of prepayment of obligations or credits denominated in foreign currency, protectionist measures in the United States, Brazil and other countries, changes in laws and regulations, and general competitive factors on a global, regional or national basis. Now, I would like to turn the floor to Mr. Pedro Oliva, CFO and Investor Relations Officer, who will make the presentation of the financial and operational highlights of CSN Mineração for the period. Please, Mr. Oliva, you may continue.
Good morning, everyone. I would like to thank you for attending our conference call of CSN Mineração.
I'll start the presentation with the highlights of the fourth quarter of 2025 and the year 2025. CSN made R$11 billion revenue with adjusted EBITDA. R$1,661 million adjusted EBITDA, 42.9% EBITDA margin, and R$1,194 million of net income, the best indicator. The year of 2025 was marked by records. In the fourth quarter, we sold 11.9 million tons, the best fourth quarter, and we sold 45.8 million tons in 2025. That was the first time the company exceeded the level of 45 million tons of sales in a single year. The volume of production plus sales, production plus purchases was 11.8 million, the best quarter in the history of the company, and 45.5 million tons in 2025, a new record for the year.
With these figures, the guidance for production plus procurement, which used to be 42-43.5 million tons for 2025, was exceeded by 4.6%. Here again, the largest volume of shipment. These strong volumes helped the company to reach the C1 of 2025 of $21.5/ton, in line with the guidance for the year, which was $21.5-$23/ton. The volume of production plus purchase of ore grew by 7.3% when compared to the same period of the previous year. That's the best fourth quarter in the history and also in production and sales of the company, even in a quarter that's seasonally lower, which reinforces the strong efficiency level attained in all the operation.
The guidance for production of purchases of ore from 43 to 43.5 million tons for the year was exceeded by 4.6%, exceeding 45.5 million tons, which means a growth of 8.4% regarding 2024. The inventories of the company, despite the strong production volume plus purchases, dropped 15% and ended the year with 2.9 million tons. That reflects the strong sales volume throughout the period. With regard to sales, in the fourth quarter of 2024, we reached 11.98 million tons, which is a growth of 11.7% with regard to the same period of 2024. The sales volume for the first time exceeded 45 million tons in a single year, reaching 45.8 million tons in 2025, which is a growth of 7.7% compared to the previous year.
I would like to highlight that since the IPO in 2021, the company's volume has a CAGR of 8.4%, reflecting the structural development of the operation and the strengthening of the logistics infrastructure of the company. In the year, or rather in the quarter, the small drop, which was 4.1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025, is a result of seasonality with a lower volume of shipments because of the rainy season. In addition to the lower price realized in the period, there was a lower impact of price quotations. On the other hand, the result for the year grew 17.9% in revenue, which reflects the record volumes recorded in the period, plus the increase of net revenue per unit.
With regard to the realization of price, we had in the quarter $106 per ton for Platts 62%. In quality, we had better figures as well, with the price adjustment for the lowering quality was $13 compared to $14.1 in the previous quarter. Despite these two positive indicators, net revenue per unit dropped to $63.3 in the fourth quarter. This drop is explained by the basket of QPs that was positive compared to the previous quarter, and also by the impact of cargoes that had exposure to future quotes, which in the previous quarter had $13.9, and this quarter -$0.3 per ton. In the following slide, we present the cost of goods sold and adjusted EBITDA.
The growth, the annual growth of cost of goods sold reflects a higher volume of sales and also increases of purchases from third parties. It reached BRL 6.9 billion and was 9.4% higher than 2024, a result of combination of record sales volumes, a resilient sales environment, and discipline in cost management. When comparing the EBITDA of the third quarter 2025, which amounted BRL 1.991 billion, with the EBITDA of the fourth quarter of 2025 was BRL 1.761 billion, we see that the drop in EBITDA when compared to the previous quarter is a result of seasonality as expected, with a lower volume presented in the period.
In addition, I would say that overall the performance was impacted by the negative impact of cargoes exposed to future quotation periods, a negative impact of BRL 19 million compared to the positive impact that those exposed cargoes had in the previous quarters of positive BRL 265 million. With regards to investments, as we had said in the call of the previous quarter, we expected a large growth in the fourth quarter given the good advancement of P15 works. The expansion or the growth CapEx reached a good figure compared to BRL 240 million compared to the previous quarter. The increase of 32% in the 2025 CapEx is the direct result of advancement in structuring projects, especially infrastructure P15 works, in addition to disbursements to increase operational efficiency.
If we compare the fourth quarter of 2025 in the growth CapEx to the first quarter, the CapEx was 3.5 times higher, which shows the acceleration of P15 works as we had told the market. With regards to working capital, in the fourth quarter of 2025, the net circulating capital was negative as an increase of the increase in trade receivables and because we had to purchase more ore from third parties. In the following slide, we show the indebtedness profile of the company. CSN Mineração ended 2025 with BRL 8.9 billion in cash, a reduction of 34.6% regarding the third quarter 2025, reflecting mainly the acquisition of more than 11% of shares of MRS Logística made in the end of the year.
With that, the company now has a net debt of BRL 725 million and a leverage of 0.11x. Despite that, the company continues with a solid and comfortable capital structure, capable to sustain its advances and growth. Now the adjusted cash flow. It had reached a positive figure of BRL 253 million in the fourth quarter of 2025, which is a solid figure, but reflects a 10% drop regarding the previous quarter given the seasonality and the higher investment in the period because of P15 works.
With regard to net income, CSN Mineração had its best result for a quarter in 2025, reaching BRL 11.2 billion, which represents a sequential advancement of 72%, boosted by the solid operational performance combined with the positive impact of the financial results of the period. In 2025, net income totaled BRL 1.65 billion, a drop of 63% compared to the previous year. That was mainly caused by foreign exchange variation, which offset all operational records. The BRL 1.2 billion of net income in the quarter accounted for 72.4% of the net income of the year of 2025, which made this quarter the best one by far. As usual, we conclude our presentation with the ESG highlights.
In governance, we had the development of from 55 to 82 points in S&P ESG score, exceeding more than 93% of the companies assessed in our segment. In the social and diversity front, we've reached one year in advance the diversity goal with women accounting for 27% of CSN Mineração staff. We had the stability of all the dams, and also with the recognition of the characterization of Vigia done by FEAM, which is the environmental regulatory agency of Minas Gerais. In safety, we had 93% recirculation of water. In health and safety is the twelfth year in a row with no fatal accidents, despite the risk of our operations with a staff of 10,000 people. We had a drop of 47% in the rate of accident frequency regarding the goal of 2021.
I would like to highlight that the board has approved to submit to the general meeting dividends that plus the interest on equity JCP will total BRL 1.2 billion of dividends to be paid in 2026. I would like to complete the presentation. The team. Because all the records we broke this year would not have been possible without the help of all the staff. Now I conclude the presentation. I turn the floor to the chairman, Mr. Steinbruch, the chairman of the board.
Thank you, Pedro. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for attending our presentation for CSN Mineração for the fourth quarter of 2025 and the year of 2025. I would like to emphasize what Mr. Oliva said in terms of all the records broken in 2025.
In particular, the sales volume record high, the record of volume of productions and purchases, and the significant shipments in ports, the improvement in shipments in ports that grew enough to ship the extra ore that was produced and purchased. Costs, we were able to keep the guidance at the lower end of $21.5. Saying that from the strategic point of view, and also in terms of challenges we posed ourselves in 2025, all of them were exceeded. We exceeded production levels every quarter. Based on what we had foreseen, we were always exceeding our goals and targets. For this year, we expect to continue with improvement in production and shipments at ports. We will continue to control costs at the lower level of the guidance given.
We were, during 2025, with a price level better than everyone expected in terms of iron ore and Platts. We believe that once again, prices are higher than those expected for iron ore. The operation is going quite well, and investments we proposed to make at P15 are within schedule. They are scheduled to take place within the time frame proposed. Therefore, we believe that CSN is in line with everything we proposed to do, even better than we proposed to do. It was an excellent year for 2025, the year of 2025. I believe that things are well-defined in terms of investments, cost control, improvement in production, port improvements, and therefore we're quite optimistic for the year of 2026.
Basically, this is what I had to say, and I would like to thank all our employees and associates that always accepted this challenge of producing more, shipping more at a low cost. Also in the environmental terms, we are evolving quite well in all the fronts that were open, and we are completing some of them. We continue to work and to improve safety and to meet environmental demands and rules. I would like to thank all of you individually for your efforts in order to attain these figures. Now I turn the floor back to Mr. Pedro Oliva, and I'll be here for the Q&A session.
We can now start the Q&A session. Thank you. We'll now start the Q&A session for investors and market analysts.
Should you have a question, please click on raise hand or send your question to the queue using the Q&A button. The first question comes from Daniel Sasson from Itaú BBA.
Thank you for the opportunity. My question is an update on the schedule of the growth programs for to expand mining, especially for P15, especially the disbursement schedule for coming years, for us to have a better understanding of the disbursement peak and whether the scope of the project remains unchanged. The second question is if you could give us some more detail on how do you expect the contribution of CSN Mining for the new vehicle of infrastructure of CSN. For example, you would enter with assets and CSN as well and have a stake in this new company. But how would the carve-out of Tecar work?
You published that there was a record volume going through Tecar operations in the quarter, and what is the rationale behind it? So what could be the rearrangement of assets at CSN Mineração? You bought a stake of CSN in the last quarter. What was the rationale for to have a part of this stake still remaining at CSN? Are you thinking of renegotiating the rest of the stake? This would help us think of the next steps of the company. Thank you.
Daniel Sasson, thank you for the questions. Regarding the P15 schedule, as Benjamin said, it's within the startup target for 2027. Everybody looked at what happened in Minas Gerais. It's not so distant from our operations. Despite the difficulties of this rainy season with very heavy rainfall, the schedule is advancing as predicted.
The disbursements will naturally go up to deliver on the schedule. We have disbursed slightly above BRL 2 billion, and we have still BRL 6 billion to disperse in this project. BRL 1 billion in growth CapEx last year was dispersed. This growth CapEx should more than double now in 2026. Naturally, there is a mismatch between physical and financial figures because financial goes beyond the physical. You have to make the measurements, and there's technical discussions and pay suppliers. So part of this CapEx still falls within 2028. Now, in other projects, we have announced in CSN since 2024 a partnership to development of the PDS project. We are quite advanced. All the tests of equipment are being made, and we should start to produce in the coming weeks.
From the point of view of CSN Mineração, there's a third party that built the plant, but we'll have a better margin for purchase of ore than compared to the price we pay from third parties' ore. This project is quite mature. The 2 million tons divided in two phases, but there is no final delivery or resolution, so this has not been updated for the market. The total disbursement up to 2030 is BRL 2.6 billion per year, and we have no updates of this figure. In the next CSN Day, we'll share any news with you. Regarding the infrastructure vehicle, CSN Mineração will propose and defend whatever is best for our shareholders.
We see opportunity to have an unlocking of value regarding higher multiples for the infrastructure when compared to mining industry. When making this carve-out of these new assets in the new infrastructure vehicle of the company, we believe we'll unlock an important value for shareholders. The final design of this structure has not yet been defined, and naturally, it will mature with the counterpart that will be part of this vehicle with the new investment. As for MRS, we believe that's one of the best railroad companies of the country with an exceptional performance and quite strategic for CSN. That's the only railroad that connects our mine to the port that had a record in volume this port with 40 million tons. As CSN, we always wanted to have a higher stake at MRS.
Since this consortium was formed 10 years ago, no important sales of stake was made. CSN had its own rationale to want to reduce its stake, but we never wanted to sell 100% of our stake. The stake that it wanted to bring to the market, CSN Mineração was interested in. The price negotiation was negotiated by an independent party with the direct participation with an independent board members that represents 20% of shareholders of the company. Thank you, Pedro. Just a quick follow-up regarding Tecar, which seems to be the bottleneck. Do you have any more detail about the total CapEx and the schedule for this part? With this calculation or creation of this new infrastructure vehicle, this will be defined. At CSN Mineração, we have hired the expansion of the pier to build a new berth.
We ship the total tons on a single berth, so it's a bottleneck of volume. We have hired offshore expansion from pier to the second berth. With this creation of the vehicle, the management will continue with that. This is a project that would take some years to be completed. The gain of capacity doesn't come only at the end of the project. There is series of bottlenecks that are all open and capacity that is unlocked as investments take place.
Thank you, Pedro. Very good. The next question is from Emerson Vieira from Goldman Sachs.
Good morning, everyone. Thank you for the question. I have three questions. The first is if you have changed the strategy regarding P15. We are at a market that pays a lower premium for ore, given the degrading of the industry and the tighter margin, Chinese.
Do you foresee any change in the strategy of products for P15 using lower grade ore so you can deliver be able to maximize premiums? A second point, an update regarding the exposure of the company in terms of freight. How much is on spot, and how much is made with medium and long-term agreements, and if you have any hedge agreement? Also regarding the prepayment of ore, we see it in the third quarter, the balance dropped by BRL 700 million approximately. We also saw some agreements, intercompany agreements that add up to $1.6 billion for approximately 40 million tons.
I would like to understand what is the impact of these prepayments that were made by subsidiary entities within CSN, given that they are being dropped, and we don't have any information about the rolling of contracts. If you could give us some color on these figures. Thank you.
Thank you for the questions. Regarding P15 strategy, it is maintained. I think you are right in highlighting the negative margins compared to Chinese because the premiums were under pressure. The truth is that for this niche of direct reduction, it follows a demand that has difficulty being met given the lack of supply and continues with interesting premiums.
To be honest, last Friday, the expected premium for P15 was above $30, even higher than what we consider in our projections, precisely because of a quite higher premium for this pellet feed of direct reduction. Regarding freight, spot is high. We have 1.8 million tons contracted for 2026 at an average price of $21.1 per ton. We have purchased freight in the mostly on spot market. We've been skillful. Our team that purchases freight is locking the cargos in the windows are given by the market, and we've been able to buy freight at slightly below C3 index on average. Regarding your prepayment questions, they have dropped because rollings happened previously and they are concentrated in some quarter. In the fourth quarter, no rollings, so there was a drop into the balance.
This year, there will be $660 million maturing, which is the volume we intend to make for new prepayments of third parties. Last year was $550 million of prepayments, and we made the contract that we wanted to roll these maturities, contracts maturing during the years. When we have been operated with a fully owned subsidiary of the company in Europe, which is a trading company, we reinforce our team there, and we made most of our prepayments recently with this trading company that's owned by us. So probably you saw intercompany transactions with the payments of this with CEMIG Brazil to bring those funds when we believe it's the time to do so.
There is a mismatch of prepayment with third parties, like Glencore and Vitol, and this in-house prepayment within related parties, which is the fully owned subsidiary of CSN with CSN Brazil.
Okay, Pedro. Just to follow up, this intercompany prepayment was a way to bring funds from this foreign subsidiary to Brazil? Yes, that's it. Okay, thank you. That's very clear.
The next question comes from Marcelo Arazi from BTG Pactual.
Hello. I have two questions. First about cost. You've given a cost guidance for 2026 slightly above our estimate. We would like to understand the rationale behind that figure. The second point is more about market. We saw a significant spike in the ore price today and some news from Chinese government giving a recommendation for purchasers not to buy from Newman Fines from BHP.
That's following the discussions from last year. I would like to have your view of how that could impact the market this year.
Marcelo, regarding costs, our guidance is from $22-$23.5 per ton. Last year was $33. We delivered on the guidance. If you see the evolution of C1, which was $21 in 2024, $21.5 in 2025, the growth close to inflation despite the appreciation in exchange rate. We have costs essentially in reais, and we report C1 in dollar. This appreciation is a challenge because we have to attain the defined targets when the exchange rate was higher.
This year, we should have some more movement in Minas, and the average transportation to bring the ore to the plant will be a bit higher, which will generate a higher consumption of diesel with the impact that happens to explain the marginally higher C1 projection, but basically in line with inflation for the period. Obviously, we'll always try to work and to deliver the lowest possible value of C1. The group has shown a very high discipline in costs. This will not change. We'll become even stronger given the entire context we're facing now. We'll continue to tighten the cost controls to deliver the best possible result. Regarding ore prices, Marcelo. To focus on your question, specifically the CMRG policy, the Jimblebar of BHP was restricted to be used by Chinese metal companies. If you see the growth in ports' inventories, it grew.
If you compare today's data, it's at 171.2 million tons. This growth is basically explained by the cargoes of BHP that are blocked, the Jimblebar, 15-20 million tons. With this ban, according to today's market information, and this volume could have an impact of 100 million tons or above that for BHP. That is quite significant, and I don't know if the market was expecting that. If you look at the beginning of the conflict in Iran, Platts 62% was $102.65 per ton. Platts 62% today went to $112.2. That's a growth of $9.55 per ton since the beginning of the war.
While C3, because given the relevance of a cost of oil has on the pricing of freight between Brazil and China, the C3 went to $21.5-$29, a growth of 5.55%. We saw Platts growing $4 more than the freight increase in the period. In addition to the war impacts, there is an impact of CMRG dispute with BHP that removes the supply of ore to the Chinese market. That's very clear. Thank you. The next question is from Guilherme from XP.
Good morning, Benjamin and Pedro. Thank you for the question. I have a question regarding third-party ore and the inclusion that you've given for the guidance of production plus purchase for 2026. If you could comment on what we could expect for these volumes for 2026.
Would it be around the same levels that we've seen during 2025? The second question now within the context of the iron ore dynamics, how do you see these dynamics for the Chinese market? We've seen some concern regarding the inventory levels, prices relatively higher within the current context with BHP. I would like to hear from you about your expectations for the year 2026. Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, please hold the CSN mining call. We return shortly. I'm sorry we had a technical problem. We had a power outage from Faria Lima, so we're now speaking from a mobile phone. If you could please repeat your question, Guilherme. When you started talking, our connection dropped. Of course,
I'll repeat it. The first question is about third-party ore.
How should we expect the development of these volumes for 2026? Does the strategy continue to maintain the volume similar for 2026 as they were in 2025? The second question is, you mentioned some dynamics about the supply and demand of iron ore in China, considering the BHP situation. I would like to understand what do you expect for 2026 ex this situation with BHP?
Thank you for the qu estions. As we said throughout the presentation, the company has grown its volume for every year at higher than 8% rates since the IPO. We have P15 projects, whose works are well advanced. We expect very close to the limit of capacity in some months, even surpassing the theoretical capacity of our assets.
Our in-house challenge is always to do more than we've done in the previous period. That's why we gave a guidance for 45-47 million tons. I'd say that we are already running at a very efficient level. Your question about purchases, they are a part of the total volume that we transport. In 2025, we made 2.4-2.5 million tons compared to 10 million. The share of 21%, we should expect similar volumes in 2026, and that would impact the margins very much in line as we did in 2025. With regard to your question about the market, on the demand side, we always take a closer look on China. We expect indirect exports to grow.
We talk a lot about the direct exports of steel, which was very high last year. The market expected to go back to something closer to 24 because when China made 116 million tons. People don't talk about indirect export of steel in products. Last year, indirect export was higher than direct by 150 million tons. The expectation is for it to grow 4%-5%. This expectation existed before the drop in tariffs of the U.S. government that were announced recently. That could have an even more positive impact on these figures that are around 150 million tons. The trade-in policies to encourage consumption, buying new cars, new automobile or new white line, are very strong in China.
They're selling lots of white line goods and cars, and we believe it will continue in 2026. Other drivers in growth for steel demand is naval construction that is expected to grow in 2026. Two Sessions that happened a week ago signaled a growth in expenditures with infrastructure. The real estate market, though it is running at a much lower level than its peak in 2025, new constructions dropped by 74% compared to the peak figures. They're much less relevant than they were in this segment. With the end of the policy of the Three Red Lines that made it hard for real estate developers to access funding, and the fact that the government will be more active in social housing, this should bring some tailwind to this segment.
From the side of demand, the change in the mix of the type of steel produced with flat steel that uses more ore and less scrap is also a driver to support demand for ore. The percentage of flat steel was 32%, and then it went to 52% in 2025, and we expect it to be 55% in 2026. From the supply side, the year started with a strong supply, a growth of 21.5 million tons from January to February, given bringing from Australia with a growth of 17.5 tons.
If you look at the expectations in other markets, we talk a lot about China, of course, but there is a prospect of growth of at least 10 million tons of imports in iron ore coming especially from Europe with the CBAM and India and Southeast Asia, despite the steel expected drop from Japanese and South Korean markets. If you think about the numbers, Guilherme, on today's date, the average price for the futures market for 62 iron is $108.9, which is quite close to a hundred and ten dollars in last quarters. We have capped our view. The prices should stay close to $110, and this is happening, and above the consensus expectation of the market.
Perfect. That's very clear. Thank you. The next question comes from Matheus Moreira from Bradesco BBI.
Good morning, everyone. Thank you for taking my questions. I have two questions. First, about dividends. We've seen high dividends at CSN with payouts close to 100%, and I understand that given the current leverage of the holding company, it would make sense to keep such levels from now on. With the CapEx of P15 increasing in the next quarters, probably you need more CapEx. You need more capital at CSN. How do you see this balance between dividends and CapEx at CSN, and what's the room for paying dividends in the next quarters? The second question is about cost. It's a follow-up on Marcelo's question. We believe that the rise in cost was a bit higher than what we expected.
Could you give us some color on what made such costs go up in this quarter, and what should be the behavior in coming quarters? We should see costs dropping in the next quarters in line with your guidance, but would it be reasonable to say that the cost performance in the second quarter in 2022 or 2026 will be better than the first one?
Matheus, regarding dividends, since the IPO, now more than 5 years ago, we've always announced to the market that we would pay dividends between 80% and 100% of net income. As you said, we've been more closer to 100%. Regarding the holding company, it's always been aligned with this vision. That's one of the differentiators of CSN, to be a good payer of dividends.
With a leverage of 11.1x, we don't see any reason to change that policy despite the CapEx we will need in the future. This is something we've always defended as part of the thesis for investing in the company. The combination of being a stronger dividend balance payer with growth, especially with P15 becoming operational in the end of 2027. Regarding costs, I think it's okay to have an increase in cost in the rainy season. That means that the fourth quarter and the first quarter of each year usually have higher costs.
I'm sorry, Pedro, we stopped hearing you. It's natural that this would happen in this period, as we did last year.
I can barely hear him. Pedro, we could not hear your answer about the cost. The microphone was very low. If you could repeat it, please. I'm sorry. We could not hear your answer about costs. The microphone was very low. If you could repeat it, please.
I'm sorry, Matheus, we have technical issues unsolved. I'll repeat it.
Now I can hear you. Can you hear me?
Yes. Regarding dividends, since the IPO, we've communicated to the market that CSN would be a strong payer of dividends, 80%-100% of net income. As you said, we're operating close to 100% payout, and the price of ore has stood at a level slightly above what the market expected. I'm sorry.
The microphone has dropped again. With a leverage of 11.1x throughout the c- We want not to change this practice. Regarding costs, there was basically a higher need of movement to open part of the mine for the mining project that was defined for 2026. This situation of a higher movement and average distance for transportation that's higher than 2025 will be the reality for 2026, and that's something that will put a pressure on costs. On the other hand, we'll continue to execute initiatives to control and offset this cost increase in this front.
That's very clear. Thank you. The next question come from Pedro Melo from Citi. Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. I would like to make two follow-ups.
First, regarding the CapEx of P15, I would like to confirm what is the level of physical progress of the project, and what is the expected total CapEx for the company for 2026 considering maintenance and growth. The second is a follow-up on costs. I would like to understand how do you see the oil price level today, and if an increase in oil prices could. What could be your guidance if there are any further readjustments in the diesel prices, or if you consider that this is included already. Regarding CapEx, I don't know if it's clear in the previous questions, but we have disbursed about BRL 2 million, and in P15 we have something about BRL 6 billion to complete the project.
The trend is to start running at this higher quarter 2025 above BRL 15 million for growth CapEx. As for the physical advancement, we've exceeded 40% of the project, and we are completing the infrastructure works. We're starting civil works now, civil engineering works, and this year we'll have to make the assembly of the electrical and mechanical parts. The project is advancing as expected, and the target date of the end of 2027 is maintained. Regarding oil, we're clearly going through a moment of very high volatility in prices, and that has impacted the cost of freight at $5.55 per ton since the conflict started in February 2028.
It's curious that the TC, which is the price of renting the ship basically, has dropped 11% to $26.6 per day, which is quite high still. The bauxite volume is very high, that's being shipped. As we mentioned, the iron ore exports volume in January and February were also higher than last year. Despite that, the Platts is going up materially more than C3. Our costs projection reflect the current diesel costs. That is known by everyone that there is a risk, yes, and the transfer of costs of diesel price rise. Regarding, we don't know what will be the impact on the iron ore prices. In these last days it has gone up more than the cost of sea freight, which has a higher impact.
Okay. Thank you.
The next question was sent by Marcio on text. Good morning. Congratulations, everyone, on their excellent results. I would like to know if there is a possibility of making a secondary public offering of selling CSN Mineração to reduce its debt indebtedness. Technically, it is possible. This offer could be made anytime, at any time according to a decision of shareholders. Today, this is not something that's being discussed according to the communications of the holding company. The holding made it clear that it decided to divest in other exits of its portfolio, especially cement and a minority stake in infrastructure assets. A secondary offering is technically possible, but it's not being currently discussed by the company. We remind you that in order to ask a question, please click on Raise Hand or send it by text on the Q&A icon. Thank you.
Since there are no further questions, I now turn the floor to Mr. Pedro Oliva, CFO and IRO, for his final remarks.
Good morning. I would like to thank you once more for your questions and for attending the CSN Mineração earnings conference call. We're very proud to be able to communicate all these quarter and annual records in production, sales, and the delivery on the guidance within the range we had communicated to the market. I thank once more each and every one of our employees. Without them, none of this would have been possible. Thank you and have a good day. Thank you. The CSN Mineração conference call has now ended. Have a good day.