Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. At this time, we would like to welcome everyone to CMIN's conference call to present the results for the first quarter 2026. Today, we have with us 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's presentation. Ensuing the company's remarks, we will go on to the Q&A session. This event can be accessed at the IR site ri.csnmineracao.com.br, where the presentation is also available. The replay of this event will be available soon after closing. Before proceeding, please bear in mind that some of the forward-looking statements are mere expectations or trends based on current assumptions and opinions of the company management. There could be differences from those expressed herein as they do not constitute projections.
In fact, actual results, performance, or events might differ materially from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements as a result of several factors such as general and economic conditions in Brazil and other countries, interest rates and exchange rate levels, future rescheduling or prepayment of debt denominated 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 basis. We will now turn the floor over to Mr. Pedro Oliva, the CFO, I'm sorry, and IRO, who will begin with the presentation. You have the floor, Mr. Oliva.
Well, good morning to all of you. I would like to begin by thanking all of you for your attendance at the CMIN call. We begin the presentation with the first quarter 2026 highlights. CMIN has its own production record for the first quarter with a growth of 6.7% vis-a-vis the first quarter 2025. We also have a new shipment volume record at TECAR for the first quarter with 8.72 million tons shipped through the terminal.
We had a reduction in third-party purchases as a way to prioritize shipments of our own productions as they have better margins. The strong rainfall in the period also impacted the operation of our suppliers and their capacity to deliver additional volumes. We had a quarterly decline in the C1 cost despite lower fixed cost dilution and a stronger exchange rate. We delivered an EBITDA margin of 44.9% in the first quarter 2026. Profitability growth supported by lower C1 and a higher own production share in sales. On the following slide, we have the production volumes and inventories.
The figure was 10 million tons, a drop of 1.5% compared with 10.2 million in the first quarter of 2025. We reached a new record in our own production, even in a quarter with intense rainfall. Once again, this points to the resiliency of our operation. In the comparison with the fourth quarter 2025, the 14.9% decline is the result of the natural seasonality of the mining business. We ended the quarter with 3.1 million tons in the first quarter, a growth of 9.1% vis-a-vis the previous quarter, and a reduction of 19.7% when it comes to the same period of 2025. The increase in inventories compared to the fourth quarter reflects a strong production volume and shipment limitations due to weather conditions. In the following slide, we see the sales information.
We reached 9.6 million tons sold, a figure aligned with the 9.6 million of the first quarter 2025. This stable volume vis-a-vis the previous year regarding the quarterly drop is simply a reflection of seasonality of the period. TECAR reached a new shipment record for the first quarter, totaling 87.2 thousand tons. The annual revenue decline was BRL 3.1 million compared with BRL 3.4 million in the first quarter of 2025 and BRL 4.1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025. The annual revenue decline exclusively reflects the impact of exchange rate fluctuations as volume and prices remain stable. Maintenance of unit net revenue despite freight pressures demonstrates the consistency of iron ore prices during the period. In the following slide, we see price realization.
Unit revenues in the first quarter were $62.6 per ton. This represents a drop of $0.70 per ton vis-a-vis the previous quarter. This, despite the Platts 61%, and we're using a new methodology of Platts with the Platts 61%, as you see on the slide. This was $104 per ton with a growth of $0.80 vis-a-vis the previous quarter. Our QP basket had a positive impact of $1.30 per ton compared with $0.20 of the previous quarter. The factors that reduced price realization were quality $11.60 per ton worse than in the previous quarter. Sea freight, as you all know, that increased during the period, but even so very close to the previous period of $22.70, an increase of $0.07 per ton and an impact of QPs of previous periods of $0.008 per dollar.
In the following slide, we see COGS ex depreciation. We ended the quarter with BRL 1.6 billion, a drop of 26% vis-a-vis the previous quarter and 13% compared to the same period in 2025. This significant decline in COGS on both annual and quarterly comparisons reflects lower purchase volumes in the period. Adjusted EBITDA reached BRL 1.42 million with a 44.9% margin in the period. To speak about adjusted EBITDA in the fourth quarter last year, we began with BRL 1.76 million. We had a drop to BRL 1.4 million in the first quarter of 2026. When compared with the previous quarter, this is a direct result of seasonality with the lower volumes in the period.
Additionally, performance was also impacted by higher freight costs and the negative impact of shipments exposed to future quotation periods. The better sales mix partially upset these effects. The increase in own production was BRL 95 million, allowing us to have the good results in the first quarter. When it comes to our investments, we reached BRL 431 million in the first quarter with BRL 272 million for operational continuity, the rest for expansion of business. This represents a drop of 51% vis-a-vis the previous period and a growth of 14.3% vis-a-vis the same period in 2025. That strong quarterly drop shows a reduction of CapEx with a annual growth of 14.3%.
That is a result in the advance of infrastructure and civil works for P15, besides investments to increase operational efficiency, of course, leading to successive records in the company. Regarding our net working capital in the first quarter, it was positive in BRL 1.2 billion , a significant increase compared to the fourth quarter 2025 and first quarter 2025, resulting from the sharp reduction in accounts payable due to lower third-party purchase volumes as they had difficulties in shipping their own production. Here we see the company's indebtedness. CMIN ended the first quarter with BRL 8.9 billion in availability, showing stability vis-a-vis the previous quarter. Net debt decreased to BRL 683.1 million in the period with a leverage ratio measured by net debt last twelve month EBITDA remaining at 0.11 x.
The company therefore remains with a solid capital structure to be able to continue with its P15 capacity expansion projects. In the next slide, we see adjusted cash flow that was negative in BRL 520 million in the first quarter, reflecting seasonality with lower volumes, higher working capital consumption, and the impact of financial results. In the next slide, we see data on net income. The company recorded BRL 222 million in the first quarter, reversing the loss observed in the same period of 2025. The decline is a direct result of business seasonality and higher financial expenses related to exchange rate fluctuations. In the fourth quarter, the exchange rate fluctuations had a positive effect on our cash. We have dollars converted to real, This had a positive impact.
As usual, we end the highlights of the quarter with our ESG topics. In tailings in March, the mining agency renewed stability for all of the CMIN tailing dams. In health and safety, we had a reduction of 33% in number of accidents involving third-party employees and the maintenance of zero fatalities. In social and diversity, we had an increase of 10% in female representation in leadership positions vis-a-vis the first quarter 2025. In environmental management, I highlight the reduction of 21% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions for ore production compared to the baseline of 2020. I would like to end by highlighting that on April 16th, we had the approval of dividends amounting to BRL 768 million.
The payment of these proceeds and equity shareholder approved in 2025 totaled BRL 1.19 billion and will be carried out until December 31st of this running year. With this, I conclude the presentation. Before we go on to the Q&A, I would like to give the floor to the Chairman of the Board, Mr. Benjamin Steinbruch.
Good morning, everybody. I would like to thank, of course, Pedro for the presentation. State that we had another excellent quarter for mining. The main highlights once again are the new record of own production for the first quarter, a growth of 6.7% vis-a-vis the first quarter 2025.
A new record in volume shipped through TECAR with 8,720,000 tons and an increase in EBITDA margin, to almost 45%, 44.9%, vis-a-vis the previous quarter, and a greater share of our own production in sales. We want to produce ever more. What I would like to share with you is that, within our proposal for mining, we have been quite successful. We have an improvement in production, a production record that we have been achieving successfully quarter-over-quarter, and a significant cost reduction to ensure that the margin could increase and to have a differentiated performance in shipment.
I would like to thank the CMIN team as a whole, those that are in production, Carlos and the entire team for that effort that they have been setting forth to increase production quarter-on-quarter. For the cost reduction and for the people working at the port for the shipments we have been able to achieve in a quarter where we had intense rainfalls, a very large quantity of rain, but more importantly, with enormous rainfall. There were days when we had true storms at the mine and at the port. As you know, this truly hampers all of the operations, both in operation, transportation, and shipment. Despite these challenges, this quarter we achieved this exceptional result. What is more important is that we continue on with these records. I truly would like to thank the entire CMIN team for their efforts.
We congratulate each and every one of them for an exceptional quarter. I thank all of you for your attendance in the call and return the floor to Pedro.
Thank you, Chairman. We will now go on with a question-and-answer session. Thank you.
We will now go on to the question-and-answer session for investors and market analysts. Should you have a question, please click on the Raise Hand icon or send your question through the Q&A icon. The first question comes from Rafael Barcellos from Bradesco BBI. You may proceed.
Well, good morning, thank you for taking our questions. The first question is about production and sales. Pedro, you remarked on inventory in the first quarter. We know that you have been working with higher inventories. In your vision, how is the company operating versus the normal inventories? Will this increase sales for the second quarter when it comes to your own production and purchase from third parties? How much of that reduction of third-party purchases comes from market conditions, freight, or climate in general? Should we see an increase in purchases from third parties throughout the year? About the freight, which is your market vision? The Brazil-China route freight has reached $37. We know this impacts some companies in the sector. I would like to know the measures adopted by CSN to mitigate that freight issue. Thank you.
Well, thank you for the questions, Rafael. In fact, we did have a share of purchases this quarter below what we had in the recent past. This refers to two factors that exceptional performance at the mine enabled us to expressively increase our own production. We prioritize the logistics system for our own production.
We also face the difficulties of our suppliers associated to climate problems and not economic problems or feasibility of their operations. As all of you know, and you have followed up on the news, what happened in Juiz de Fora, which is not far from our operations, to show you the context and the challenge faced by our teams at the beginning of the year. This exceptional performance of the mine enabled us to focus on the outflow of our own production, and I think this coincided with the greater difficulty of delivery on the part of our suppliers. That is why we had a reduction in purchases. Looking ahead, I believe our suppliers are now in a better situation. They have successful operations, and we are confident that we will relevantly increase our purchases now for the second quarter.
When it comes to inventories, if you look at the last quarters, in fact, the company has operated at lower levels. This increase in the first quarter is a one-time issue related to the exceptional performance of the mine and a record that we had for a first quarter at TECAR. Lower shipments, which we will have in the second, third, and fourth quarters, of course. Our quest here, Rafael, is to release working capital, and one of the fronts for this will be to continue to work on inventory reduction as we did in 2025. Regarding freight, in fact, we do have a dynamic on the part of demand. We have strong demand for ships, and this comes from an increase in the iron ore market year to date, an increase of 8 million tons in our market.
We also have pressure coming from bauxite in Guinea with a significant increase in demand and full-sized ships that we use to transport our iron ore to markets of destination. While we continue to witness the conflict in the Middle East and the closing of the Hormuz Strait, albeit partial, this does have an important impact on the oil prices, and this should sustain the high values of bunkers and, with that, sustain the C3 at levels above BRL 30. As you said yesterday, it was BRL 37. Today, we had a marginal drop to BRL 30.6. It's been a while since we saw such high prices. We see the resiliency of iron ore. To redress that cost, we can see that we have great resilience of the iron ore cost with that price of freight.
We would have the exit of important volumes in our market. We could supply iron ore, of course, to the market with greater facility.
Thank you. Pedro.
Our next question comes from Mr. Ricardo Monegaglia from Safra. You may proceed, sir.
Good morning, everybody. Thank you for taking our questions. Good morning, Pedro and Benjamin. I begin with a question on CapEx and what we can expect this year when it comes to absolute CapEx and the share per quarter, given the appreciation of the real. Pedro, if you could remind us of your exposure of CapEx to the dollar. We have a more appreciated real. That's the first question. The second question is price realization. If you could remind us what we could expect in terms of quality evolution this year. Well, let's think about the short term. The next quarter, there was some rain this quarter that impacted the quality of your material. Will we be seeing an improvement the coming quarter or the opposite effect?
Thank you for the questions, Ricardo. Regarding the CapEx, in the first quarter, we had an expansion CapEx. It had significant growth vis-a-vis the same period last year. We did have the impact of this high rainfall on the advance of our civil works. This did not cause any delay. The P15 schedule has been maintained. The expectation is to have a material increase in the second and third quarters. Last year, we had a total CapEx of BRL 2.3 billion. We believe that this year, because of the expectation of the positive advance of the P15, we should go beyond BRL 3 billion with a significant share in the second and third quarters.
The CapEx could increase twofold. Regarding the appreciation of the exchange rate, this ends up having an impact, more on our C1, Ricardo, less on our CapEx. Most of the exposure to the dollar in our P15 CapEx is associated to the purchase of equipment internationally. We have received most of the equipment so far. We could have indirect exposure to exchange rate while we have local suppliers for the exchange of tubing that will connect our processing plant to the filtering plant, but we won't have a material impact of the exchange rate on our CapEx. Luckily, we are still in line with the market expectation that we had since the beginning of the project. Now, regarding price realization, the expectation is that quality will remain at present day levels. We're using Platts 62% between $10-$15. We had $11.9 for silica.
We were performing with very poor quality, Ricardo, and this variation in the figure depends more on market conditions and the distribution of cargoes during the year. We don't expect to have material variations until the coming into operation of P15 the coming year, where the company will operate with a materially higher quality, and quality adjustments in the near future will become a quality prime.
Excellent. Thank you very much, Pedro.
Our next question comes from Mr. Gabriel Barra from Citi. You may proceed.
Good morning, Pedro and team. Thank you for taking our question. We have two points here. Simply follow-ups. One regarding CapEx for P15. If you could speak about the pipeline, the advance, the progress, the scenario, if it continues to be geared to the delivery in 2027, which is your evolution pipeline for P15. You've spoken about cost. You've spoken about this broadly. I would like to get more details. You spoke about freight. There's the issue of energy, other issues that we have heard about in the discussions we have on the price of commodities for coming quarters, freight, energy, and much more. Which will be the cost evolution for the second quarter? What can we expect in terms of a material impact on your results for the coming quarter? These are our two questions. Thank you.
Thank you for the questions, Gabriel. Regarding the CapEx for P15, we have disbursed a bit above BRL 2.2 billion. We have important landmarks during this year, the electromechanic assembly for the filtering area, and once again, the tubing that I mentioned a short while ago. In the first quarter, we had the impact that I have already mentioned.
We had concluded most of the infrastructure. We were decreasing the pace of infrastructure and civil works. These were being mobilized. We had little to do in the first quarter. That is why we are now advancing at full speed in civil works that will take the CapEx to another level. Now, the expectation of 2027 has been maintained. For a project of that magnitude, we face enormous challenges of not having delays in our country since 2024. We had already worked with that target of the end of 2027. We maintain that date.
Regarding the costs. In fact, we do have the increase of oil that generated a significant increase in the freight costs on February 28 before the conflict. The C3 route was BRL 23 some per ton. In the second quarter, we were expecting an increase in the price of freight, but not with the magnitude that we were able to verify at BRL 36.9, an increase of BRL 13.45 per ton. As we mentioned, Gabriel, luckily the price of ore has accompanied the increase in freight price. Platts 61% is at BRL 111.01 and the other at BRL 114, an increase of BRL 1.8 per ton in the period offsetting that increase in the price of freight.
We have a positive reading of the market, therefore, we believe that that level of a C3 above $30, the Platts will have to be above $110 differently from other players, some juniors in Australia or even in Brazil that have a greater exposure to the oil price because of their long highway routes to transport the iron ore. Now they're being more penalized than we are. Luckily, we have been able to reduce our COGS per ton and even the C1 vis-à-vis the previous quarter where we had a reduction. In the coming quarters, we'll have the exchange rate pressure, but naturally, management has adopted several measures to reduce the cost and offset that pressure of the exchange rate.
Thank you, Pedro.
Our next question comes from Mr. Marcio Farid from Goldman Sachs. You may proceed.
Good morning, everybody. Thank you for taking our question. We have two follow-ups. Pedro, in freight, you're exposed to the spot price and there's no hedge in the bunker system. I would like to confirm that, and if you could give us data on the sensitivity of C1 with the different prices. Another inflationary pressure that you have felt simply to understand how this could impact the year. You spoke about the P15. It seems to be very much in line for the end of 2027. If you have other updates on projects in our pipeline, the PK could be necessary if the P15 comes into commissioning and your tailings operation, partnerships in processing. I would like to know if you have any update in these parallel projects. Thank you.
Marcio, several questions regarding the freight issue. In fact, we do have an exposure, not 100%, but practically that. We have 1.8 million tons this year at the average price of $21.1 per ton. Yes, we are exposed to the bunker and to spot prices. Regarding the C1 between $22-$23 per ton, despite the exchange rate pressure, we began the year at a consistent level, consistent with our guidance. We have that higher bunker, freight, as we remarked here. In truth, to be very honest, diesel is below what we had projected in our budget. There is that combination not only of the price increase, but the price policy that the country has adopted in our negotiations. Luckily enough, nowadays, this has not been a pressure driver for our C1 up to the moment.
Regarding the projects, P15, in fact, is according to schedule advancing well. In PK, that exposure will occur. It is a regulatory obligation. We do need that additional capacity because of our expansion plans for our own production in coming years. Recently, we contracted civil offshore. It's something. The CapEx will be executed throughout several years. It's not a need that we have to conclude this immediately, for example. It will not overburden our balance materially, not this year or the coming year. Regarding other projects, the one that we can announce, we do hope. It will be in the fourth quarter. It is one of the projects for the recovery of tailings, the project that you mentioned. Now, in principle, it's something we would like to work with in partnership if the negotiations are attractive for CMIN. I do believe they will be.
We are conversing with three peers simultaneously that are interested in working in partnership with us. We hope to be able to make a decision on that in the coming months.
Thank you, Pedro.
Thank you very much.
Our next question comes from Mr. Edgard Pinto de Souza from Itaú BBA. You may proceed.
Good morning, everybody. My first question is a follow-up referring to the question made by Marcio Farid just now. If you could give us more color in terms of TECAR. I understand this is a gradual process that you don't need to invest in this because of the P15. If you increase the ramp-up of P15 the coming year, you're running TECAR very close to its capacity limit. My doubts regarding that project is: how long will it take to execute this, the expansion of capacity of TECAR?
If it doesn't come at the same speed as the ramp-up of P15, which are your alternatives to ship through other ports, use third parties? How long would this project take to be fully executed? These are my questions regarding TECAR here. As we're speaking of TECAR, if you have an update on the curve out of TECAR, if this is something you pursue, or if this is not a company priority for the moment in your divestment policy for the holding. Along the same lines, Pedro, according to my account, you have about BRL 7.5 billion of prepayment maturing this year. We have seen some prepayment to renew the contracts in the first quarter, which will be the renovation rate this quarter if those BRL 22.6 will mature.
Last year, you had a slight mismatch at the end of the year. If you have a timeline, if you're going to end this at the beginning of the year, in the second quarter. Once again, if you could give us more color in terms of your prepayment, that would be helpful.
Thank you for the questions, Edgard. I will give you more color regarding TECAR, which is a concession. It was recently renewed. Associated to that renewal, we have that plan and obligation to expand capacity to 60 million tons. In-house, we would like to conclude that project between 2030, 2034. All of this will depend on a variety of factors. Among the alternatives we have and depending on market conditions going forward, we will prioritize our own production. We're also seeking value over volume.
We want to value all of this with the coming into operation of P15 and work less with third parties, as you mentioned. We believe that TECAR is an exceptional asset for the group. To speak about the second question of carve-out. The structuring of an infrastructure vehicle for the group with details that will be defined in the coming months will un-hamper the value equity. We are displacing equity from A company to B company. What we're going to do is maximize value for our shareholders, considering the assets we have in our portfolio. Regarding the prepayment, throughout 2026, we have 15.4 million tons maturing. Part of this has already matured, Edgard. Those 7.5 million tons have been pushed to the second quarter of 2026.
We have already contracted a new prepayment of $300,000 in the first quarter of 2026. We had already communicated this to the market. From the financial viewpoint, throughout 2026, for the entire year, we have $666.1 million in prepayment. We have already rolled out 300 of those 666. Until the end of the year, we hope to carry out new operations for the remaining value of $366 million. We won't do this in a linear way, of course. We paid half of this amount in the first quarter. This is what we expect to do throughout 2026.
Thank you, Pedro. A simple follow-up regarding TECAR. I understand the flexibility, making adjustments with third parties.
To put it into figures, if that last guidance that you updated to produce between 50,000 and 60,000 tons in 2028, 2029, there's a significant delta volume being produced already and sold. Of course, there's a part that remains in the domestic market. Where would you outflow this production through third-party ports?
Given the investments in TECAR that only begin in 2030, beginning in 2030, we could conclude the works if we wanted to. That increase to 60 million tons. We don't have the outlook of going from 45 million to 60 million. It's not a one trigger. The investments being made are unhampering capacity through time. This is not linear. We increase capacity. It's not only that in the last month of the work execution that we will have the benefit of that capacity gain. There's another variable that the market perhaps has no visibility on.
It's an initiative that we're working with as a great priority, the expansion of the draft of the channel that gives access to TECAR. We have a neighbor that did that very successfully in his property, we're working on that to make it feasible. That alone will represent a drop of freight for us. We can work with larger ships, and a freight reduction will bring about a capacity gain at guide of some million tons. This will also help us to address that point that you have just asked about.
Thank you. That was very clear.
Thank you very much.
Our next question comes from Mr. Guilherme Nippes from XP. You may proceed.
Thank you. Good morning to all of you. I have two questions here. My first question refers to your working capital consumption that you posted for the quarter. This is in accounts payable, and it refers to a greater volume of purchases from third parties. Which was that volume that you closed for the third quarter? That should become normalized in the coming quarters, increase the volume of third parties. If you still have that goal of 25% to 27% of your volume coming from third parties, which will be the evolution of working capital during the year?
My second question refers to the supply and demand dynamic of iron ore. If you could comment on this. There was a discussion, a ramp-up. Is there any adjustment of route because of what is happening in the Middle East? Which is your outlook on demand looking ahead? That would be very helpful. Thank you.
Guilherme, it's not about purchases from third parties that impacted our working capital. We had a very low volume of third-party purchases, 2.1 million tons in the first quarter. If we compare this for the fourth quarter, we had 3.3 million tons, a drop of approximately 30%. Vis-à-vis the first quarter 2025, we had 2.75 million tons. Also, we had an expressive drop. For the rest of the year, we hope to recover that volume vis-à-vis the first quarter. We would like to have a volume higher than 2025. We had a guidance of 45 million-47 million tons for this year. Our expectation is to increase not only our own production, as is expected because of seasonal effects, but to significantly increase the purchases. This quarter, it represented 22% of sales, and we're convinced that throughout the year this will go beyond the 25% that you mentioned.
Now, about our reading of the market for iron ore, the question on demand. The inventories are higher, in fact, this year in China, and this can be easily explained because of the increase of supply of 18.6 million tons. This stronger demand comes mainly from Australia that has increased 3 million-4 million tons. In China, well, China still has a negative margin of BRL 2.6, more negative than it was in previous quarters. There's a percentage of profitable mines in China of 60%. This is a very low lever, but better than it was one year ago, marginally better. What has supported the iron ore consumption is the use of other furnaces in China, going back to the level of 90%. What we see now is a higher price since October of 2025.
The steel price reacting a bit, and the same holds true for the price of iron ore. We see a demand in China despite the reduction of the real estate market. Once again, there is strong infrastructure, especially in expanding the capacity of energy and sanitation, and good data referring to manufacture. The PMI rating standing at 52.2 compared to 52.8 in March. This is the highest increase since December of 2020. Despite a macro environment that isn't very favorable, we see some promising data in the Chinese market. The indirect exports of steel in China are strong, with a growth of more than 10%. Export of automobiles, the white goods, not only to Brazil, they're getting to different markets. The indirect exports of steel are going mainly to Europe and the United Kingdom at present.
From the viewpoint of other markets, we have a positive expectation for Europe. The data have not been very good. Strong demand in the Asian Southeast offsetting the reduction we have observed in Japan in the last few months. The ex-China market, with demand growing 10 million tons of imports of iron ore. Because of the conflict per se, I won't say the impact is neutral. Iran was an important exporter of iron ore. Other countries in the region were importing about 30 million tons. The effect is not nil. There is the effect of additional volumes being offered in other markets that are not being absorbed by the Middle East. Nothing material so far.
Now, this pressure on freight will end up having an impact, and we haven't spoken about these markets that use ships with lower capacity, that use Panamax instead of Capesize for those routes. The impacts and the increase in fuel price, well, the impact will be even greater. We have marginal producers in India, for example, that use this type of lower ship. They're suffering more. In our opinion, this is what is going to sustain Platts at higher levels during the year while the freight price continues high. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Pedro.
Two points that I forgot to address, BHP and CMP. Our relationship with BHP, they've been a good client, not expressive, but we have negotiated cargoes at market prices. It's a good door of entry into the Chinese market. With relatively low volumes, as was expected. In April, we had 1.2 million tons, for example. Close to 15 million tons expected for 2026.
Excellent. Thank you very much.
Our next question comes from Arthur Biscuola from UBS. You may proceed.
Good morning. Thank you for taking my question. I have two follow-ups regarding your payment contracts. At the last call, you said you were able to close these contracts with ever lower spreads. I would like to understand from you how far that reduction of spreads is due to a lower risk of negotiating with CMIN, or is it a sign that clients are structurally more bullish in high-quality iron ore? The second question regarding funding. You never had that policy of paying out 100% of dividends, you're raising through prepayment.
Is there any arbitrage between the cost of funding and the return to shareholders, if this will stop making sense for you at some point in time or not.
Thank you for those questions regarding prepayments. The lower spreads are a result of an imbalance at CMIN and a result of its excellent performance in each of its contracts. We have contracts with different counterparts for many years, and we honor them strictly with banks that are accompanying the good performance of the company for years. I believe that this is due to the valuing of the relationship with CMIN from the part of our counterparts and not the quality of the iron ore. In the last quarters, there has been no relevant variation in quality, and there shouldn't be one until the coming into operation of P15. The volume of P15 is not committed with any of these prepayments.
Regarding the issue on dividends, yes, this is a core issue that we have communicated to our investors since the IPO. We stated we would have an aggressive policy of paying out dividends, and we have performed in terms of that. When you look at the balance of 0.11 x leverage, we can maintain this aggressive policy for the payout of dividends. This is a core element in the thesis of our investments, given the sector where we are active, and we're convinced that we will maintain this along with a CapEx that will increase pace because of P15. This will lead to an increase in leverage of the company, but to adequate to healthy levels, perhaps more efficient levels to structure our balance and to represent lower payments of income tax. It will be a tax shield that, in our opinion, makes sense and is efficient.
That was very clear. Thank you very much.
Our next question comes from Mr. Rafael Barcellos from Bradesco. You may proceed, sir.
Thank you, and thank you for allowing me to come back into the queue. I made a question at the beginning of the call. I would like to take advantage of the session to mention two points that have not been approached so far. Pedro, in P15, as part of the schedule you have going forward, which are the main risk factors that you are monitoring to have a successful project execution? After everything we have discussed here, which is a possibility of paying out dividends, how are you thinking about capital allocation? We would like to hear this. Thank you.
Rafael, thank you for the questions. This is the first time we allow analysts to speak twice. Very prestigious, but it is a pleasure to answer your questions. P15, with a project of this magnitude, there are natural risks of immobilization of labor.
We have a large contingent of people that are necessary to execute that work in an environment with low employment rates in Minas Gerais in the iron ore sector of the region. We have the critical path of hiring, mobilization, and execution of that very important package of electromechanical assembly. We have two different projects, one for the processing plant, the other for the filtering plant. We also have the hiring of the assembly for the tubing that will connect the processing plant to the filtering plants that are at 7 km distance. These are important elements. Now, the good performance of the civil work is, of course, a critical item. Fortunately, everything has worked out very well. To speak about the main risks, nowadays, there is no reason to believe that the risk will materialize. We have several actions to mitigate the risks.
We have the problem of rainfall in Minas Gerais. For this year, we have overcome the problem. We have another important period in the coming year. The greatest risk was in the execution of infrastructure works that are more impacted by rainfall and were well advanced in terms of the assembly so far. Regarding dividends, Rafael, we do have that practice, it's not a formal policy, we pay out 85% of our net profit, we intend to maintain that practice throughout the coming quarters. We have already announced proceeds of BRL 1.19 billion that will be paid out until the end of 2026. For the coming quarters, we should maintain that practice of paying out strong dividends.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Our next question comes from Reinaldo Veríssimo, investor.
Congratulations for the results. Is there the possibility that CMIN will acquire any other asset from CSN or increase the payout percentage because of the leverage of the controlling company?
Reinaldo, thank you for the questions. Presently, there is no mature discussion regarding that topic. We have the share of MRS. This was communicated by the group as part of the initiatives. It's not part of our scope. In the beginning of January, we were focused on the investment in cement. That has been the focus for the deleveraging of the group.
Thank you.
As we have no further questions, I will return the floor to Mr. Pedro Oliva, the CFO and IRO for the company's closing remarks.
I would like to thank all of you for your attendance at our earnings call, thank the chairman of the board, and of course, thank all of our employees for the operational records at the mine and at the port. This has sustained the good results, the dividends for shareholders. We will continue to work so that 2026 will be an exceptional year. Thank you.
The CMIN call has ended here. Have a good day.