Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. At this time, we would like to welcome everyone to CSN's conference call to present results for the third quarter 2022. Today, we have with us the company 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 this, there will be a question and answer session, at which time further instructions will be given. Should any participant require assistance during this call, please press star zero to reach the operator. We have a simultaneous webcast that may be accessed through CSN's investor relations website at ri.csn.com.br English, where the presentation is also available. The replay service will be available on the website for a week. You can flip through the slides at your own convenience.
Before proceeding, we would like to clarify that some of the statements herein are mere expectations or trends and are based on the current assumptions and opinions of the company management. Future results, performance, and events may differ materially from those expressed herein, as they do not constitute projections. In fact, actual results, performances, or events may differ materially from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements as a result of several factors, such as the 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. I will now turn the conference over to Mr.
Marcelo Cunha Ribeiro, CFO and Investor Relations Executive Officer, who will present the company's operating and financial highlights for the period. Mr. Ribeiro, you may proceed.
Good morning, and thank you all for participating in our results call for the third quarter. Our quarter highlights. First of all, I would like to mention that this was a pretty turbulent period due to the change of prices in commodities, especially in the international market. Iron ore, the impacts of the Chinese economy that is going into a slowdown impacted by the global market factors and the prices of steel and mining at domestic level. We did our part in this very complicated period. We obtained a good operational result, a growth in volumes, and a reduction in the cost of production of our main business. It shows that we are quite resilient in our figures.
Secondly, we were able to conclude our strategy that transforms the cement business, integrating the plants and assets of LafargeHolcim, now called CSN Cimentos Brasil. It has been consolidated in our figures during September. The good news is that we have a company with ever stronger results and more promising synergies. In the third place and as a subsequent event, we were able to conclude two acquisitions that will also transform CSN in terms of energy. We concluded the acquisition of Quebra-Queixo and, ensuing this, the inclusion of control of CEEE-G. This is a step of the group towards renewable and competitive self-energy, but also poses a low risk and is an excellent segment. These are the highlights for the period. We go on to page three with our consolidated operating and financial indicators.
A normalization of our profitability based on a change of all of that exuberance that you observed in prices and commodities at the beginning of the pandemic. This allows us to have representative margins in all segments. This quarter, we had an evolution with a drop of EBITDA of 16% because of the steel sector, where there was a compression of margins in the quarter and the prices in the international market dropped and a sequential increase of prices. The good news is now the prices and the raw material costs are going down, but we do have a negative variation in the period. In mining, stability marked with a growth in production volumes, lower costs offset with a lower price for iron ore. In cement, a strong performance and the consolidation of the CSN Cimentos Brasil for the first month. We have 24% margin for the quarter.
We continue on. We see the cash generation. We begin with investments that showed a stable performance at BRL 839 million. We have already communicated to the market this. We're being very careful with our reimbursements because of a more turbulent market and because of the increase in prices and cash generation. We took the decision to prioritize our initiatives, and this is being reflected in our expectations for investment in the year 2022. Initially, it was to be BRL 4 billion. We are now at BRL 3 billion, which is in accordance with the moment that we live in. Because of the delay in our main expansion project in Pecém, due to a delay in the manufacture of equipment, which is somewhat complex in terms of the delivery.
The outlook for the CapEx for the fourth quarter will drop following that guidance of BRL 3 billion. In working capital, a significant evolution. This is one of our essential leverages in our search for cash generation. We have had good news in several fronts, stocks that are dropping and a drop in the price of raw material and a lengthening in the term with suppliers boosting and aiding our net working capital with an impact of almost BRL 3 billion. On the following page, you see the adjusted cash flow, where we show you a favorable comparison vis-à-vis previous quarters. In previous quarters, we were impacted by the working capital because of the high costs in raw material with a negative impact in cash generation.
Presently, you see a strong cash flow, a very timely one, offsetting the investment period taxes with a cash generation of BRL 3.2 million. What is essential when we look at the next page is to look at our leverage under control. Of course, the leverage has increased as we have a normalization of EBITDA, and it goes from last year to values of 1x, now getting to 1.7x. Of course, this is the result of a very strong movement that we had this quarter. The conclusion of the LafargeHolcim operation that should have reduced our indebtedness as we had a reimbursement of BRL 4.8 million. Net debt increases BRL 3 million, goes up to BRL 24 million, and our leverage stands at 1.7x.
What is relevant is that we're changing our leverage guidance for the medium term. Medium term means the end of the year 2022 and the beginning of 2023 to a level between 1.75 and 1.95x net debt above the levels that we desire, which are 1x. We recognize an increase in the price of commodities and capital allocation made recently. The outlook is to have a lower price of commodities in 2023. With this adjustment, we will maintain a sufficiently strong cash generation, avoiding the leverage to go above these levels. On page 7, our liquidity, which is based on our policy, of course, BRL 15 billion in cash this quarter. This is the amount we reached with a series of initiatives and the management of our liabilities.
BRL 1.4 billion for mining of an infrastructure debenture and an institutional CSN debenture carried out in the month of October. With this, we were not only able to obtain this amount but lengthen our liabilities with a short-term debt coverage of more than 6 years and a very strong balance to face up to this moment of uncertainty and the investments foreseen for the coming year. It's a very strong metric that deserves the continuity of our upgrade in terms of credit ratings. We have BB at present. We expect BB+ very soon. Of course, this is a structural search, this investment grade for us. I will speak about the performance of each separate business, beginning with steel. We had a strong performance in terms of volumes in the domestic market. We had stability.
CSN was able to grow almost 20% using the distribution channels and its strengths in segments, and continues to grow in civil construction, which has been quite resilient. This offset other segments where the growth is lower, for example, the automotive segment and the white line. We have the typical seasonality of the summer in Europe. But we're on a very strong path of profitability, especially in terms of profitability in Germany, where we have excellent prices and favorable costs because of energy hedges and low raw material costs. This has given us stability during the period. In terms of revenue, despite the growth of volumes, we had international prices that were adjusted, dropping approximately 9%.
In the case of EBITDA, the compression of margin caused by the prices and also because of very expensive raw material in purchases during the second semester, coke and coal, reducing the margin in the period to BRL 1.2 billion-BRL 1.3 billion, with an EBITDA margin of 16%. In the next page, we see that this cost increase was a timely thing. In production, we have good news. There has been a drop of 6%, BRL 4,100 of slab. When we compare the cost of September with the average of the period, there is a subsequent drop. The cost in September was 8% lower than the average for the quarter, showing us a clear direction for the fourth quarter. Costs will continue to be reduced significantly because of the raw material and because of the operational enhancements.
This quarter, we had more than 1,000,000 tons of slab, and this helps us to reduce our fixed costs. We had BRL 1,100, $105 of EBITDA per ton. Between the peaks, of course, that we saw in the pandemic, but with interesting profitability above our historic average, and this is how we will continue in the coming quarters. Speaking about mining, as in steel, we had an important moment in terms of production volumes and sales. Vis-à-vis the weaker quarters in the past impacted by operational restrictions, because of the heavy rainfall and the contention of the use of water at the plant. These problems were reduced during the third quarter gradually. We're still at the maximum limit of production that we will reach in the fourth quarter with all of the projects coming into operation.
We still have some enhancements to do. This is the good news, we did achieve this important evolution. We had a significant drop in prices. Stability in the revenues is positive evolution of 20% in sales, offset by a greater drop in prices and offset by good news in quality and the cost of freight. That is why there is a drop of only 3% in EBITDA. The margin without a significant drop because the costs were very good. We had an important evolution, an increase in production volumes and better costs in the movement of our freight. We are at the best level of the year of $19 with a neutral EBITDA vis-à-vis the second quarter. On page 13, a perhaps better comparison, eliminating the effects of that reversion of provisions of cargoes sold at provisional prices.
This quarter, our EBITDA grows because of enhancements in all of the lines, better volume, a better quality mix, better pricing, reduced freight at lower costs, offset by the negative evolution of the Platts index with a drop of 15%. We get to an EBITDA of BRL 960 million. Our breakeven of iron ore delivered in China is competitive, and despite the lower slab prices that will not persist below $80, we're making margins that are higher than $20 per ton. We have interesting margins presently. Regarding the next segment, which is cement, we had a very special quarter with a change in level in terms of volumes because of the consolidation of the 10 plants of LafargeHolcim in Brazil, now called CSN Cimentos Brasil.
Compared to our historic average, we have grown 650,000 tons a month and a growth of 50% that we had between one quarter and the other. Now, because of this consolidation, the business did very well. Prices were recovering their increases based on inflation, volumes quite strong, reflecting a very resilient construction segment. Without the consolidation of LafargeHolcim, our results were increasing. We also have the consolidation of our PCHs that were acquired to offer us efficiency and to work with the cement business. With this, our margin was increasing. We had the consolidation of this additional production, and with this our EBITDA went from BRL 160 million- BRL 260 million. The levels are still not what we expect.
This will become formalized in the fourth quarter, but it shows us the potential that the cement business has. In the past, it was 1%-2%. It will have a more relevant share in the fourth quarter and with the acquisition of LafargeHolcim Brazil. Now, to conclude our energy business, at the end of the third quarter, we had the closing of the acquisitions that will transform our energy business. Quebra-Queixo, BRL 427 million, funded by anticipation, a very efficient way of funding energy assets, and it will bring about a competitiveness in production of iron ore, will benefit production, and will transform us into a player in the energy sector, not only in our search for self-sufficiency, but will also enable us to sell some of this energy.
We have already begun to operate this business, and we're quite enthusiastic with the opportunities that we're finding. With this, I would like to give the floor to Helena Guerra, who will speak about our ESG performance for the quarter.
Good morning, everybody. Here we are again to present results for the third quarter. The full material is being presented, and it's geared towards offering you a very transparent vision of ESG in the company. In the last quarter, for the eighth consecutive year, we received an award because this is the highest level of qualification of our industry. During this period, because of a better understanding of our actions, we were able to improve our performance and the rating went up to 55 points, where the average of the world is 20 points. We also began our study on climate changes.
We're analyzing our processes to detect some opportunities. Now, this construction of scenario is based on the best market practices, and they will enable us to make more assertive decisions when it comes to climate changes. To continue speaking about climate and our emissions for the quarter, the accrued result for the nine months of the year point to adherence to the plan set forth for each segment. Improvements in the production of steel and a slight increase in the level of emissions in the production of iron ore. Of course, we do have great expectations in terms of our performance and the implementation of projects that have been set forth. We spoke about renewable energy, of course, when it comes to speaking about climate changes, and this is so important for the company.
It is through the company's strategy that we will be able to stand out and also work with new innovation projects. We will have clean energy that can be scaled up in several of our new developments. Now, speaking about our dam management, we're continuing the decharacterization works on the Vigia dam. We have completed the structural building and officially it is being acknowledged as being decharacterized. There is nothing reported in terms of our licenses. We have had a significant evolution in operational terms. Quarter-on-quarter, we speak about our security, which is also under evolution. We have reduced the number of accidents, the problem of the third party always presenting the best results in our historical series. This quarter we reached the best figure, and we ended the quarter with 0 fatalities.
In terms of social and diversity, of course, we're under constant evolution. We have increased the representation of women in leadership positions. In nine months, we had significant advances compared to 2021. Well,
thank you. We will now go on to the question and answer session for investors and analysts. Should you have a question, please press star one on your phones. If your question has been answered, you may withdraw from the queue by pressing star two. Please pick up your handsets when posing the question so that we can provide optimal sound quality. Please hold while we poll for questions. Our first question is from Daniel Sasson from Itaú BBA. You may proceed, Mr. Sasson.
Good morning to everybody. Thank you for taking my question. Marcelo, if you could remark on CapEx, the reduction in your guidance.
If this is coming from something that will continue on the next year, which is your expectation of CapEx for 2023? At this moment of greater uncertainty, it seems that you're revising the execution of some projects when it comes to steel. If you could speak about your expectations for volume and the guidance for 2022 was given 1,600,000 tons. If you could remark on this, and perhaps Martinez could do this, if you're comfortable with these levels, and give us more color in terms of volumes and prices for the short term. Thank you.
Thank you for the question. I will begin to answer the question on CapEx and then give the floor to Martinez for his outlook on volume. Well, regarding CapEx, in the medium term, we still don't have anything. We're carrying out this exercise now.
We're going to share this during CSN Investor Day in the middle of December. Of course, we're working with priorities as we have during 2022. This gave us a savings of BRL 1 million because of the moment of uncertainty. We're trying to increase the cadence of projects that will be delivered but will be delivered in a different time frame. We're thinking of productivity gains in steel, growth in mining, but we do have to respect the environment and liquidity and leverage issues. This doesn't mean that we're changing our direction in steel. We're going to work with changes in centering, have some, shutdowns. In terms of mining, the great projects is the expansion of P15 and PK expansion.
In the other projects, we do have a master plan, and part of our trajectory is to de-characterize the dams and of course, work with the tailings. This is a subsequent enrichment, and their time frame might become somewhat more flexible. We're going to maintain the annual CapEx, but far from the levels of BRL 10 million that we had in 2022. Of course, we will have significant expenses in these projects, but so far we do not have a precise figure for the medium term. Very soon, we will be sharing this with you in the following 30 days. I give the floor to Martinez. Should you have any more doubts, we can continue speaking.
Daniel, good morning, and thank you for the questions. I will begin speaking about the market. The Brazilian market for flat steel this year will end at 4.4...
14.4, 14.6 million tons. These are the other years, and in 2021 there will be a small drop. From the viewpoint of volumes, we should reach a very interesting figure. Of course, because of the market conditions that we have had this year. Still speaking about the fourth quarter and the outlook for the sectors, some sectors continue to be very positive. Agribusiness, for example, civil construction, agricultural implements, machines, equipment, packaging trucks. All of these sectors are operating very well in terms of steel in Brazil. We have trucks with 8%, machines with 12%. Some sectors that leave a bit to be desired that should improve are the automotive sector. Although it did improve in the third quarter, the outlook is more positive for the fourth quarter.
The white line also. It suffered significant seasonality in the third quarter, but they're getting ready for Black Friday and other end of the year activities. From the viewpoint of guidance in the domestic market, the figure is 3.3 million tons for the year, and totaling for the group a figure of 4.7 million tons, considering Lusosider with 300,000, SWT 60,000, longs in Brazil 240,000, and in the US approximately 230,000. Approximately this would be the guidance of volumes that we have for the year. A very positive piece of information. Strong penetration this year will drop to levels of 14%-15%. This is good news. It will return significant volumes to the domestic market. When it comes to prices, we have focused on...
I mentioned this in the previous call, that we were focused on recovering market share, and we did. We had a growth of 20% in the domestic market. There will be a minor seasonality at the end of the year, as happens every new year, especially in September. In terms of prices, what I can say is that the premium, although we have altered the prices to be able to compete, the premium is 18%-20% vis-à-vis the nationalized imported product. As Marcelo mentioned, our strategy is to remain operational and to compete. Our slab, I don't know if you will recall this, got to BRL 4,200 per ton at the worst moment. Should end the year at lower levels of BRL 3,700, BRL 3,600, which makes us very competitive currently.
What I can say regarding the market strategy is that we're going to continue to diversify the production. We're gonna work towards added value, quality, action in all markets. The geographic issue is very important. We're well positioned in Germany. Portugal, there is a trend for recovery until the end of the year, beginning of 2023. In the U.S., good news. We have a sunset review for cold and hot lamination. The U.S. opens another door for the CSN. Besides the amounts that we export every year, we will have the opportunity of exporting 50,000 more cold lamination and 150,000 of hot lamination. Brazil won 3-2, and the other countries that were able to eliminate the anti-dumping lost by 7-0, which shows that we have a good outlook for Brazil.
Now, still speaking about strategy, we're ever more horizontally integrated. We're seeking vertical integrations in long-term processes with strategic intentions, of course. The market of zinc material, we're still struggling for prices. We have to fight against the imports in Brazil. The imports, 95% come from China. They arrive in Brazil with prices that are much lower than those of the domestic market. We're going to continue to fight to maintain our margins and a better cost. Now, an important piece of information so that we can add value evermore. We announced an investment in the new painting line. We're still seeking a location. It will be 160,000 tons per year for automotive and for the white line, which means that we will gain some more diversity.
In the metal line, we're working very strongly with the American market to increase our quota in the US market. The quota is very small for Brazil. If we can get to 80 or 100,000 tons a year, this would be highly desirable. This is all, and thank you for the question.
Thank you so much, Marcelo and Martinez.
Our next question is from Rafael Barcellos from Santander Bank. You may proceed, sir.
Good morning. Thank you for taking my question. I have a question about the leverage that you have spoken about. Will you speak about the price of iron ore or the same prices you spoke about steel? Now, regarding cement, with the consolidation of LafargeHolcim, what is your outlook for profitability? And if you could detail the growth that you're going to have in investments. Thank you.
Well, thank you for the question.
Regarding the leverage, we do have that range, but it's more focused on a goal. We're aware of the challenges that are necessary to broaden that leverage and work with the drop of prices of commodities, which is important for CSN. In this forecast, we have already included an iron ore at a different level that we saw this quarter between $80 and $90. If the iron ore continues to drop in terms of price, the intention of CSN is to maintain indebtedness below that level of 1.95. We're going to seek out other initiatives to make this a ceiling, a limit. In terms of management, whenever we see the leverage increasing, we seek alternatives to reduce the leverage to get back to the levels that we deem acceptable. Now, I will give the floor for a fuller response.
I'm sorry I'm a bit hoarse. In terms of the evolution of profitability of cement, nowadays, CSN is the most competitive platform in Brazil. We work with margins of 130%. LafargeHolcim operates with lower levels. Marcelo has already mentioned that we found a very well-structured company with excellent assets, and that we're seeking out opportunities and synergies that are greater than we had imagined initially. We're quite convinced that in the short or medium term, we will bring LafargeHolcim into operation with these very high levels of EBITDA. We're working on this now. For this, of course, we have several synergies that go from A to Z in the commercial area, the logistics area, operationally and in the commercial area. We're going to replicate the model of success that we have as CSN.
Our pricing strategy in logistics, we work with optimization in our services to the market, focusing on regions, municipalities or markets. In terms of operations, we have several synergies, beginning with electrical energy. In the second semester of the coming year, we will have high production of energy, which will be important because of the acquisition of the plants that have been mentioned, and synergies that we're seeking in terms of efficiency, cargo and energy matrix, a new avenue of things that we are capturing in the short term, getting ready for the year 2023. We're quite optimistic in terms of this. Regarding the growth plan, we have 16,000 tons of capacity. We're selling 12-13 million. There's still room for growth, of course, for the present day assets. We have two important points. One, to be attentive to market opportunities.
We believe that consolidation will continue in Brazil. CSN is a major player in this process. We're going to look at the opportunities with a great deal of discipline, of course, and an organic growth plan where we have the opportunity of building green fields. We have three projects in our pipeline that will be initiated if there is the need for this or if we have a better visibility of the growth of the market in the coming years. There's a project in Pará, another in Paraná. Now, while we don't begin these projects immediately, we're working with the maturity of these projects, working with the licensing, the protocol of intentions with the government and definition of all of the equipment, so that these projects will be highly competitive in their respective regions. I hope that this has responded to your question.
Rafael, to complement the information that Edvaldo has just conveyed, we're going to follow the strategy of diversification in cement. Today, we have the best of both worlds. As CSN, we were highly focused on the retail segment. 90% we sold to the end users and customers. We have 20,000 clients. We used to sell to only 8,000. That was our goal initially, to sell to less clients. Now we have an operation that is very focused on bulk cement, technical cement that will sustain the growth of infrastructure in Brazil. When we speak about geographies and going beyond the projects mentioned by Edvaldo, we're very well-positioned in some regions of Brazil, in the Northeast, in the Southeast, in the region of Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais, or in São Paulo. We have a market share of 20% for Brazil.
In some regions, we predominate in the region, and this allows us to also work on sales channels, distribution. This is a strategy that we're going to work with, diversifying the geography, the customers, and of course, focusing on the value of the company, whether it is in bags or bulk.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Our next question will be in English from Mr. Carlos de Alba from Morgan Stanley.
Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Just a couple of questions. One is, when do you expect the hedges that you had in place in Germany for energy cost or energy inputs will expire? And if you could give us a sense of how much below current spot prices were you purchasing energy in Germany, that'll be useful. The other question is on the benefit of the energy acquisitions that you recently did. On the steel sector in particular, have you quantified how much either dollars per ton of slab production in respect to reduce or costs per ton, however you have quantified that would also help us. Thank you.
Thank you for the questions, Carlos. Speaking about Germany, we have had that hedging policy for 10 years. There hasn't been any alteration, and the policy is to hedge 100% during the short-term period. Then quarter on quarter, we work with a scale where the percentage drops. This year, we had more than 80% locked at EUR 74 per megawatt-hour. The coming year, 25%-30% of our volume will stand at that same price. We would be working with a spot market where the prices are much higher, EUR 300, for example.
Even with these lower hedge levels for the coming year, we are looking at a result that will be double our historical results, EUR 50,000-EUR 60,000 for the unit, and we will pay double of that, because gas and energy will be more expensive. This is the combination of limited supply. There are production problems there. Gas perhaps will go down. We will work according to the policies with lower prices, and we hope to have a very strong market for the coming year. Regarding CEEE, it brings us BRL 300 million in terms of benefits, reduction in the cost of energy for steel mining and cement. Approximately half of this refers to steel. We're speaking of BRL 650 million or $30 million, $10 per ton.
This is what improves in terms of our margin because of the synergy.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Our next question is from Caio Ribeiro, Bank of America. You may proceed, Mr. Ribeiro.
Good morning, and thank you for taking my question. My first question is about the expansions in the steel sector. If you could speak about the growth that you're contemplating here and perhaps convey some details in terms of volume and CapEx. Secondly, you spoke about the results that you think there will be a drop in the price of some inputs during the fourth quarter and a drop in the price of slab. Could you give us an outlook, which will be the margin that you expect in the steel sector for the fourth quarter? Thank you.
Well, regarding the expansion, it would be interesting for Martinez to mention what we announced recently. Martinez?
Caio, good morning.
This new painting line is another step that we're taking in our strategy towards a value chain. To give you an idea, we have a line in Paraná that produces 120,000 tons a year. This new line was acquired. It's a line that was in operation in Korea, a Japanese line, state-of-the-art, also producing 160,000 tons. We're now disassembling and working with engineering. I think that in the first quarter of 2024, this line will be operational in Brazil. Obviously, this is another step. We're going to work with more zinc material and work more with painting, and the focus is exports. The market here is given. What comes in here in terms of pre-painting represents the capacity of our line. We're very comfortable that this line will arrive full.
It is for civil construction and the white line, the chosen markets. When it comes to the expansion of CSN, what is more important is consolidation. We're working on steel sheets in the domestic market with 350,000 tons a year. We have capacity with a low CapEx of reaching 600,000 tons. We do count upon the eventual opening of the North American market to export this. We're focusing more on this market, and it will depend on what we're doing with the American market. In terms of other types of growth, we're working with an exercise. At present, we're making investments upstream, and we have an engineering, production and commercial team jointly deciding what we're going to do upstream. Of course, we have analyzed the possibility of increasing capacity and volume.
In Brazil, there is another line that comes in of imports, and we think that we could also increase the capacity of zinc products. This is still under study, and we're working with this in-house. We're going to keep away from the hot rolled products. We're going to work more with coated products with added value to be closer to the end consumer and sending steel per kilo instead of selling it per ton. This is the goal of CSN. Marcelo, I don't know if you're going to add whatever it is that we're surveying outside of Brazil.
Well, I'm sure Benjamin will also make remarks on the company's strategy. It is important to internationalize in the more developed markets, especially North America, but we're now reviewing the timing to put in place these projects.
We have made strides in terms of long steel because of this internationalization. We truly do like this project, but it will be put in place at the right moment. It will all depend on the context. I will give the floor to Benjamin to remark on this.
Regarding Caio's second question, cost.
Simply to clarify what was said during the presentation, we had the cost of slabs of BRL 4,100 in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, the cost is 8% below that average. This points to the trend. There will be a greater drop in the fourth quarter, which means that as part of price expectations, our margin per ton may increase marginally. There are too many variables involved. There's a seasonality of the quarter, but our margin increases marginally because of this drop in prices.
Well, thank you.
Thank you very much, Marcelo and Martinez.
Our next question is from Isabella Vasconcelos, from Bradesco BBI. You may proceed, ma'am.
Good afternoon. Thank you for taking my question. We have two questions. The first, referring to costs. You're going to enhance productivity, and several comments have already been made of this. But if you could give us more color in terms of other initiatives that you're surveying, in the value chain for the company. The second question, simply to confirm this with Martinez, the strategy and the strategies that you have worked on more, if that has changed, if most of your volumes will continue to do what they were doing in the past. This is our question. Thank you very much.
Isabella, if I can begin answering the second question. This is Martinez. Regarding the contracts, nothing has changed. Quite the contrary.
In the United States, we have seen that the negotiations continue to close annual volumes without any problem and revising the price every quarter or every six months according to the market. Our strategy is the same in Brazil. In civil construction, in industry, in some sectors, and in the white line and automotive sectors, we do this quarter on quarter. Basically, this is what we're thinking of regarding the negotiations with these sectors. They're beginning once again now. In a month or a month and a half, we'll have an idea of which will be the negotiation for 2023. In the case of coated material, where I have 51% of my portfolio, we're going to continue to fight against imported products. We want to grow more and sell to more customers. There's no other way out, and commercially, we're working on all fronts.
Trying to go from the sunset review from hot-rolled to cold-rolled, the metal sheets or metal foil, because we do find a great deal of Chinese-coated material in Brazil. It's very difficult to compete with this, and the supermarkets tend to prefer the import of materials in this area. We're going to focus on pricing in the fourth quarter. As Marcelo mentioned, we're imagining that we will maintain our margins through a cost reduction. Marcelo mentioned the word marginally, but we're going to work on costs so that we're able to marginally maintain our margins. Thank you.
To speak about cost, our main costs are raw material, energy and services, maintenance contracts, and strong logistics support. Now, in logistics, we do have a strategy, and the strategy is verticalization and working with premiums, and this has given us good results.
We have some subsidiaries that are no longer suppliers of CSN. They're working with competitive products for the entire segment. Akimaki, which is a company as well, where we work with very tight costs. In energy, we're doing what we can. We're reaching indices of high production. To work with natural gas is also something that we could do. We have projects for the longer term. It's a combination of things and partnership with Casa de Pedra, looking for a greater yield for the blast furnace, working less with pellets. We're seeking activities to increase our fill rate, and we're working strategically in the slab market, where we still have a great deal of opportunities. In all of these, we're able to have a very competitive cost.
That's very clear. Thank you.
Our next question is from Leonardo Correa from BTG Pactual. You may proceed.
Good afternoon. Can you hear me? I hope you're all well.
Yes, we can hear you well.
I have a single question to clarify some points in the same question. Leveraging capital strategy.
If we look at the evolution, many things have been done. LafargeHolcim, CEEE. Well, these are large acquisitions, and now there's that period where you have to absorb them, capture synergies, and of course, this has to be well done. Additionally to this, in all of the IPO process of the CEEE, there were also several projects and a great deal of things on the table of the company, things to be delivered and that were under evolution. The question therefore that we have is that, of course, this is having an impact on the leverage of the company.
For many years, CSN has been deploying a great deal of effort in terms of reducing the leverage, and I think the market as a whole has been very appreciative when we look at the leverage that is almost 2 times. This is a level that you had in the past. It puts the company into a different situation when it comes to global industries. In Latin America, United States, Europe and Asia, leverage is 1.5 times above the average. Because of this, of that ceiling and your leverage and your objective, the impression that we're under is that you don't have much room for maneuvering here.
I know that you have spoken about your desire to make the company international, but all of your movements have been done domestically. If we think about all of this, if we think about your strategy, the leverage, the risks of the scenario, the price of commodities dropping, things are still rather hazy. Isn't this a time perhaps to stop, to integrate everything, to continue on with what you have been doing? I would simply like to hear from you, because this is very important to the market, and the market is very focused on this. This would be my question.
Leo, this is Benjamin. I'm going to respond to some of these questions at the end, but as this question involves strategy, I would like to respond to it. The other questions will be answered by others. First of all, a good day to all of you.
Thank you for participating in our results call. We truly have prepared the company for a deleveraging that was done very successfully. Because of this, we have prepared the company for organic growth and for acquisitions. You truly never know what will come first. We were ready to participate in mergers and acquisitions, and of course, we're continuing on with our investment plan. Our priority, our strategic priority is to invest outside of Brazil. You are correct. We continue on with that strategy. The conclusion that we have come to is that despite having very good margins in our businesses in Brazil, we are penalized by the multiples, which are much lower than those of our peers abroad or even among our Brazilian peers, and because of an issue of reliability regarding our assets.
Now, this effort towards internalization in each of the businesses continues to be a priority for us. At the same time, we're making organic investments and investments for growth. What came up was LafargeHolcim. Because there were no internal buyers, and because there was a need to sell off the company in the short term, because of their leveraging, because of an acquisition they had done, it was. Well, this opportunity was left for us. We analyzed it very speedily because it was not part of our strategy.
Because of what was presented to us in terms of the quality of the asset, the geographical diversification, the potential for synergy this operation would complement us, we decided to anticipate everything, make the most of the opportunity, and acquire the assets of LafargeHolcim, and somewhat postpone that organic growth that we have in Brazil. You said that we have two projects at the port of Sepetiba, for example, that are all packaged up. We decided to make the most of that opportunity, and it truly was a very positive one. The synergies are much greater than we had imagined. Besides the logistic issue that requires good management for the two companies, the complementarity and the possibility of marketing the production of each company in a more smart way has increased the synergies beyond what we had imagined.
Although the cost was higher than ours because our assets are newer, because of the synergy in logistics and supply, it's going to reduce our costs and give us much better margins than we had expected. I would say that this was a good opportunity that we made the most of, and of course, we do not regret this. As you can see from the results that we have presented, beginning the coming year, we will have a significant EBITDA for the entire group. Now, when it comes to investment in the field of energy, we're being carried by the EDP or EDF, you said. Because of the possibility of acquiring CEEE. The day before, because of the analysis they dropped out, we decided to continue alone.
Because of the amount sold of 66%, as 33% belonged to Eletrobras, we decided to continue on a loan, and we got ready for an auction. If we speak comparatively of the assets that we had acquired previously in terms of margin, we were prepared to go way beyond what we went for, and we thought it was a good business compared to the previous acquisitions that we had done of Quebra-Queixo, Angra III, and Santana. We were prepared to pay what we had paid for the Quebra-Queixo and other hydroelectric plants. It enabled us to create our energy business. We were self-producers.
We had shares in hydroelectric and thermoelectric plants, but with the acquisition of CEEE that has three GW, we have the business of clean generation, which is very important for us. We grasp this advantage and with an acquisition cost that was surprisingly very low. Very soon this will have a repercussion, will have an impact on our EBIT results, and we will become very efficient producers of energy. We do have a very significant potential for growth greater than we have in mining or cement. I would say that these were opportunities that we took contrary to the strategic priority that we had set forth, but with very good results and we're quite calm in terms of what was done. Now, the leverage did increase and we're offering this guidance.
I would like to say to you that we are ready for new opportunities to carry out some structured financial movements in the field of cement as well as in energy, as well as in the steel sector. That assumption that we had adopted previously of maintaining the leverage below 1x, that was our priority and our commitment, and we're going to maintain it, of course. Notwithstanding this, because of the opportunities that have come up in a very conservative fashion, we will not set aside working with opportunity businesses. If you look at the price of operational assets compared with assets that have to be created, whether brownfield or greenfield, you will pay one third or one fourth of the value.
That topic of investment, organic investment, organic growth, when it comes to opportunities, when you see a ready-made and operational asset, well, you have to think judiciously. Of course, you're not going to enter into a business where you won't make money. Our greater commitment is what I mentioned previously, that we're going to continue to deleverage, ESG technology, and we will mandatorily maintain our focus. Every once in a while, we may slip in terms of the leverage. This is a timely thing, a one-time thing. Whenever there is an opportunity, a window for a financial operation that will allow us to deleverage, we're going to adopt this quickly and go back to that greater commitment, our original commitment of deleveraging. Basically, this is what is happening. We have to be sufficiently smart so as not to allow ourselves to miss investment opportunities.
We're also going to maintain our commitment and our conservative stance when it comes to deleveraging. Of course, we're going to come up with some assets. We are prepared to produce at a low cost, and with this we will be quite aggressive in the market where we sell our products with representative margins.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
We would like to remind you that should you wish to pose a question, please press star one. To withdraw your question from the queue, press star two. Thank you. As we have no further questions, we will return the floor to Mr. Marcelo Cunha Ribeiro, the CFO and Investor Relations Executive Officer.
I would like to thank you for your attendance, and I would like to give the floor to Benjamin Steinbruch for the closing remarks. Thank you once again for participating in our call.
Very few words in terms of our strategy and the priorities of the company and our business. Share some information in terms of what we're thinking about and doing. We think that this moment is very similar to 2020, when the pandemic came about. We have very aggressive measures preparing the company for this and for a significant change in production and consumption. We're presently doing the same. The company is being prepared for a highly competitive market, something that is different from what we had participated in. As all of you know, the price of raw materials and prices in general, and the level of economy as a whole are dropping, and we have to be prepared for a new type of market. What we have to do is to work with a lower competitive price to make the most of the market in which we operate.
We cannot create the market, but yes, we can participate actively working with a low cost, and this is what we're doing. The company is ready to produce at a low cost and to continue to truly participate in the consumer market. We are going to have this drop in cost that began in the second quarter already. As you know, the prices drop before the cost. When you see everything packaged, the raw material and the services and the payroll, you have that effect of inertia. The prices drop the cost because you have already bought raw material. The products are being manufactured, and when you have an inventory, it leads to a margin decrease initially, but it then has a benefit. The benefit of the drop of cost in raw materials and services. It did have an impact in the second quarter.
The third quarter was the worst. The fourth quarter will begin to improve, and beginning with the first quarter in 2023, the company as a whole will be very prepared to work with low cost and participate in all sorts of markets. Commercially, we will be very aggressive, and being commercially aggressive does not mean to lower our prices. We want to set ourselves aside. We're seeking partnerships, shares. We want to maintain our philosophy of work. Of course, we want to be commercially well-placed to be able to enhance the domestic market and also supply to the foreign market. Regarding the investment, I have already mentioned this. There are many opportunities. We think that there will be ever more opportunities because of what is happening worldwide, opportunities to consolidate segments.
We have to be ready to participate in this and do whatever we think will be smarter for the company in the short term. Always keeping in mind the leverage lengthening the company debt, we're already quite lengthened in terms of debt. We're going to pay the maturities in the coming six years. We are concerned with working capital. We have a war effort in this. Minimize inventories, maximize the payout of dividends to work appropriately with inventories, to have at least BRL 15 billion in cash, which is what we deem to be necessary to give us that freedom of action because of the size of the company, and to also have that freedom for some choices that may appear in the horizon. I spoke about the synergies that we have among our assets and the focus of the strategy is a low cost, quality and the product.
We continue on with that idea of quality. The variable that plays in our favor is the quality of the products and added value. To produce with a low cost and to have added value and quality in our products gives us a differentiated market, vis-à-vis the market. A low leverage within our commitment, aggressiveness in the domestic market, the payment of dividends is something that we think the market values and respects, and of course, the issue of investments abroad. We're working within all of these variables. We're always seeking quality. As you know, our structure is a very lean structure. It used to be much larger than our structure than our fixed costs. We're attempting to work with a highly efficient management and very good quality. I think that as of this moment, we will have better margins in all of the products.
The market is there, and we're ready for it. We're enthusiastic with this market. When it comes to China, which is an important topic for us, we see that China is progressively returning or improving its economic activity. Perhaps not as aggressive as it was formerly, but progressively offering well-being and development to its population. Iron ore will be an important product when it comes to social issues and infrastructure for China. When it comes to ESG, we're highly committed as always. When it comes to security and governance, this is a flag that we work with, and technology and leverage. I would like to thank all of you for participating in the call. Once again, we're highly enthusiastic.
We're being conservative in terms of our forecasts, highly satisfied with the investments that have been made, and aware that new opportunities will come about in the short term in terms of mergers and acquisitions, both in the domestic and international market. We do want to be a very active participant of the market without forgetting our greatest commitment, which is maintaining the company deleveraged. That, of course, has perhaps had a minor slip because of the opportunities, but once again, returning as soon as possible to this commitment. Thank you very much to all. I hope to see you in person at our next meeting. Thank you for your participation.
Thank you. The CSN results call ends here. You can now disconnect and have a very good afternoon.