Gentlemen, at this time, we would like to welcome everyone to CSN's conference call to present the results for the 1st 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 section when further instructions will be provided. The event today can be accessed at ri.csn.com.br, where the presentation is also available. The replay of the event will be available soon after closing. Before proceeding, please bear in mind that some of the forward-looking expectations or trends are based on current assumptions and opinions of the company management. Future results, performance, and events may differ materially from those expressed herein, which do not constitute projections.
In fact, actual results, performance or events may differ materially from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements as a result of several factors. General and economic conditions in Brazil and other countries, interest rates and exchange rate levels, future rescheduling or prepayment of debt 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 would now like to turn the floor over to Marco Rabello, Investor Relations Executive Officer, who will present the highlights of CSN for the period. You may proceed, sir.
Well, a good day to all of you. I would like to thank you for your attendance at another call of CSN. We have joined here to present the results of the Q1 , 2026. We had a growth in EBITDA despite the heavy rainfall we had during the period and intense competition of imported material in the first two months of the year. Despite this, the EBITDA grew 5.5% vis-a-vis the same period last year. This shows the importance of having a diversified operation and a good portfolio.
The main contributions came from cement and logistics, which ended up offsetting the effects of the exchange rate drop and the more challenging environment in logistics. Another consolidated result was a drop in leverage, with the indicator reaching 3.36 × in the Q1 2026. A drop of three percentage points vis-a-vis the previous period. This goes beyond the focus of the company regarding projects that continue to advance, and the company is still working with several initiatives to organically improve its leverage.
The performance for the quarter is a consequence of that, with operational improvements, new prepayment contracts and the payment of debt all contributing to the reduction of indebtedness. Finally, in April, we signed a bridge loan representing $1.2 billion that could be extended to $1.4 billion. This loan has the goal of anticipating part of the money for the sale of assets and be put to work immediately for short and medium-term operations. This loan will also show the market that the company is still quite sound without any immediate pressure for liquidity. Let's go on to the highlights for mining. In the Q1 of 2026, we had a record own production despite the rainfall in the state, with some situations of public calamity in adjacent areas to our mine.
This is a demonstration of the operational excellence and the ability to mitigate weather-related challenges. Tecar reached a new shipment record for the period, totaling 8,700 tons, reinforcing the robustness of this asset. The price dynamic of iron ore neutralized the impact on cost, especially because of the freight. This helped us to dissipate greater pressure on results. Iron ore prices present a favorable trend so far and should help us in the performance of the segment for the rest of the year. In steel, we had a challenging beginning of year, with importers anticipating measures to avoid the protective measures that were put in place in March. Despite that challenge and with the negative seasonality of the period, sales increased 12% when compared to the previous quarter.
Part of that growth is the result of the performance achieved in March, responsible for 50% of the sales. This shows that the commercial trend is quite favorable for local producers with a positive dynamic in volume and price. Another factor that contributed positively to sales was the performance abroad and the resumption of exports that gave thrust to the results. Regarding the prices, we observed stability in the domestic market with the readjustments implemented at the beginning of the year offsetting the pressure of imported products. There was the appreciation of the Real, and of course, this exerted pressure on the conversion of results. The company has carried out a new adjustment in April, and the trend in the international market is favorable for these increases. This should contribute to the results in the Q2 and full year.
In the cement market, we see exceptional performance of the company. They transfer prices even in a period of rainfall and a weaker market. We prioritize results, and this shows the result of the cement market that has proven to be quite resilient. There is incredible labor market, a new salary mass and the real estate constructions from Minha Casa, Minha Vida that continue to increase demand for cement. The company reached the highest EBITDA in all of its history, even in a quarter that seasonally is weaker. This shows that 2026 can be an extraordinary year for cement. If we analyze the results of the Q1 , we would have a potential EBITDA above BRL 1.6 billion for the year. If we use the seasonality of this segment during the year, the results could go beyond BRL 2 billion results.
This is not a formal guidance of the company, but shows the potential of the cement sector. Alongside profitability, CSN has an EBITDA margin above 30%, reaching 31.2% in the Q1 , 2026. This shows the competitive edge of the operation that is now fully verticalized with full price control, but also with new brands, strong brands and operational and logistic operations that truly mark the difference. We have received more than seven proposals for the divestiture process, all of which are qualified. This shows the qualification of the asset, and we should embark on our expected schedule for this. If we look at the right of the slide, we have the logistics and energy segments. Logistics in the Q1 also had a negative seasonality because of the rainfall on the railroads. This impacted the volume of cargoes.
Despite this, the segment had a growth of 26% in EBITDA vis-a-vis the same period last year and maintained profitability above 40%, showing the resilience of this platform. In energy, this is another quarter of strong growth with an EBITDA rising more than 92% vis-a-vis the previous quarter, impacted by energy availability and an improvement in prices. Let's go on to the next slide, where we present the EBITDA results and the EBITDA margin for the Q1 2026. We see the effects of seasonality vis-a-vis the previous quarter, especially if we consider the intensity of the rainfall that was higher. Despite this, the company had a growth of 5.6% in EBITDA on an annual comparison with a margin expansion of 1.8 percentage points. This performance shows the importance of having a diversified operation.
We had cement and logistics giving thrust to the growth. In the graph to the right, we can see the contribution of each segment compared to the previous quarter. We see the effects of seasonality and extraordinary effects. The difference reflects a non-recurring effect presented in the previous quarter, referring to idleness. If we exclude the BRL 314 million of that effect presented in the previous quarter, and still we would have a growth of EBITDA in the Q1 . In mining, besides the new volumes, the performance for the period were impacted by the strong appreciation of the Real during the period. On the following slide, we show you our investment activities. We see a drop of 49% of CapEx vis-a-vis the previous quarter, showing what the company tends to do to invest at the end of the year.
There is a stability in terms of investments with more disbursements in mining because of the advance of the civil works for P15. Let's go on to slide five, where we analyze our working capital. We can see an increase of 54.4% vis-a-vis the previous quarter because of higher accounts receivable due to increased commercial activity in the steel segment concentrated in March. A lower volume of investors and suppliers driven by reduced third-party iron ore purchases. Regarding inventories, beginning in April, we initiated the liquidity programs to take advantage of finished products and other materials in the group, especially in the steel segment. This will be a vector to release working capital for the year and help us in cash generation for the group.
On the following slide, we will be speaking about our free cash flow with a new opening to show all of the cash impacts we had during the period. As you can observe, the free cash flow was negative in BRL 1.6 million in the quarter. The main factors that led to this were seasonality with lower operating performance, working capital consumption, still elevated financial expenses and significant debt amortization verified during the period. We're going to use the cash to reduce our net debt as part of its deleveraging goal. The outlook for the next quarter improves as we expect to improve financial indicators. We will have a favorable seasonality. Besides this, we will have an improvement in working capital and a drop in financial expenses during the year. Payment of debt and all of this will accelerate our deleveraging.
You can see the steps of free cash flow and we are going to address the main points to generate a positive and sustainable cash flow in the midterm. On slide number seven, we show you the situation of our net debt and leverage as well as the payment of debt during the quarter. In the graph to the left, the main message here was a reduction in the leverage going from 3.47 ×- 3.36 ×. This improvement shows the efforts carried out since the beginning of the year to improve the capital structure of the group. The company maintains its policy of maintaining a high cash generation, BRL 2.6 billion, a volume that is more than sufficient for the short term.
In the graph to the right, we see that the main points that contributed to the net debt were a new contract for the prepayment of iron ore that will cover some of the amortizations this year and the positive effect of exchange fluctuation. Most of the points that had caused problems in the previous quarter were reversed now. Regarding future outlook, the sale of assets as a plan announced in January continues at full speed with better results than expected. This shows how attractive the assets are and how the management is focusing on the financial structure of the group. We're going on to slide number eight. Presenting our indebtedness profile, we can observe that we're keeping a high level of cash despite debt amortization during the period. The short term maturities refer to banking debt, where CSN has been able to address the problem without greater difficulties.
There were negative news that came out on the sustainability of CSN. The situation is not this one. CSN is still very active in terms of amortizations and we're working with a bank syndicate where we have been able to increase the visibility of the group and anticipate part of the funds so that we can continue working. We are going to address our short and medium term debts. The environment expected going forward will lengthen the maturity going forward, ensuring that the company can execute its plan for divestiture. With this, we conclude the analysis of our consolidated results. We can go on to slide 10, where we see the highlights for the steel segment. Here we see our commercial activity with a growth of 12% in the sales for the quarter, despite the weaker seasonality at the beginning of the year and pressure of imported material.
Importers are trying to avoid protective measures. Part of the growth presented is because of the performance achieved in March, where 50% of the sales were carried out. There's a resumption of exports and consumption of steel in Europe. March already shows the results of the better price environment, and this will help us to increase the performance of the steel plant going forward. When we look at the following slide on steel production, we see that the results of the Q1 , 2026 reflects the BF2 shutdown and a reduction of inventory levels for this year. That slight increase verified in the period is due to an increase in raw material and energy exclusively, and this reduced the performance per ton momentarily with the goal of a reversal the coming quarter, thanks to the price readjustment that was already practiced.
We go on to the financial performance of steel on slide 12. On the graph to the left, we see an increase in net revenue, thanks to a greater commercial activity in the period relating to operations abroad. On the year-over-year basis, revenue was impacted by the price decline observed in the period and an additional negative foreign exchange rate. There was a slight drop in price in the quarter that offset the readjustment practiced at the beginning of the year. Going to the graph to the right, there is stability in the EBITDA with non-recurring effects from the previous quarter. EBITDA margin was pressured by non-recurring effects because of market pressure and one-off effects. There are signs of improvement in the domestic market, and the month of March shows us clearly the benefit of the protective measures that are being put in place.
What we see in the first quarter are effects that we observed in the last quarter of 25. We will have stronger volumes beginning in March of the year 2026. To go on to mining on slide 14, we see the result of productions and sales. Here we see the typical seasonality effects for the period and the effects of rainfall. Despite this pressure, we were able to present a growth of 6.4% year-on-year in our own production, which demonstrates operational excellence and full capacity. Another highlight for the period was a new shipment record set by Tecar in the Q1 , showing the robustness and efficiency of the company's logistics structure with consistent evolution quarter-on-quarter. We also consider the sales volume that is stable vis-a-vis the previous quarter.
Regarding the financial performance on slide 15, we observe that the revenue decline reflects lower volume shipped because of seasonality and the negative impact of exchange variation. This is a factor that impacts revenues in the annual comparison because volume and price have remained at a stable level. Iron ore has proven to be quite resilient despite the conflicts in the Middle East, helping to offset the increase in freight and in oil. The increase of activity in the quarter is a direct consequence of a better performance and how the company is able to preserve value despite these conflicts. We have an improvement in the mix exported with a higher share of our own production. In the following slide, we see the adjusted EBITDA for the Q1 2060 vis-a-vis the previous quarter.
There's a direct impact of seasonality, the increase of freight, and the negative impact of freight costs. Let's go on to analyze the cement segment. On slide 18, we see the sales volume observed in the quarter. Here we observe similarity vis-a-vis the previous quarter and a small drop in the annual comparison. This reflects a period with higher rainfall and the company's strategy of prioritizing volume to capture the favorable market dynamic without entering into a price war. There's a favorable trend. The segment has been resilient and will be very sustainable for operation in 2026. Here we see the segment's financial performance, a growth of revenue of 14% in the annual comparison and stability vis-a-vis the Q4 25. This reflects the price readjustments applied in recent months and the resilient demand in the Brazilian market.
In turn, adjusted EBITDA was the highest in the company's history, with an EBITDA of almost BRL 400 million and a margin that went beyond 30%. All of this profitability reflects a favorable moment for the operation and underscores the competitive edge of the company as we have a fully vertically integrated management. Now, to deliver almost BRL 400 million EBITDA in a seasonable impacted quarter shows that we will have a further increase of EBITDA going forward. Finally, we will analyze the logistics segment when it comes to revenue. The drop in revenue is due to the seasonal rainfall effects on cargo transportation. Now, the segment has presented a very good evolution on the EBITDA graph to the right. Even with the negative seasonality, we were able to maintain profitability above 40% in the quarter, evidencing the operational resiliency and the strength of the integrated model.
With this, I would like to conclude the presentation on the segments, and I turn the floor to Helena Guerra to present the ESG highlights.
Good morning, everybody. I would like to resume what I mentioned in the last call. This is the base of how we look upon this agenda in the company. This is not simply part of our agenda or something linked to operational efficiency or value generation and regulatory and financial risk. We have a very strong connection with the business, and we also evolve in terms of our reporting. We have a full report bringing updates on indicators, goals, and results. It connects this indicator with the main ESG risks of the company and our strategy to mitigate these potential risks and the resiliency of our ESG performance. We have that double materiality integrated in CSN and Cement.
We have the publication of that integrated report. These reports, once again, follow the main frameworks of the market. What we have now is a more integrated version speaking about risk and value. This will be applied during the next year. Our performance and this transparency of our report has improved successively in terms of ESG. We're positioned among the 10% of the companies with the lowest ESG risk. Once again, we have the MSCI rating upgraded from BB to triple B. We have stability in terms of our tailing dams. All of this was renewed in March. We have had great efficiency in our plan to contain the rainfall. This was mentioned by all of the speakers. We had a period of intense rainfall that did not impact our dams and did not have significant impact on our operations.
In terms of health and safety, we had a very challenging quarter. Despite structural advances and reduction in third-party accidents, we had a certain gravity or seriousness in terms of the accidents we had. Of course, we have full focus on this issue. We celebrate important achievements this quarter, the certification in ISO 45001 certification. In the environmental front, we are reducing greenhouse gas emissions in steel production and cement production vis-à-vis our baseline years. This, of course, is very important. It allows our company to become more competitive when it comes to carbon regulations and a potential increase of costs related to climate transition. In terms of women, we continue to advance. In terms of diversity, 12% increase in female representation in the workforce and seven percent increase in female representation in leadership positions.
Of course, we're making heavy investments in retention to reduce operational risks, the scarcity of labor, and increase our sustainability through time. Thank you very much for your attention.
Thank you, Helena. I will now give the floor to our Chairman, Benjamin, for his comments.
Good day to all of you, and thank you for your attendance at the CSN earnings call. I would like to very quickly review what was presented now, per sector, underscoring our commitment with deleveraging and basically working in two different ways. First, an operational enhancement of all of the sectors and with a reduction of debt, which of course is our priority from the viewpoint of our operational segments. Mining had extraordinary results, in my opinion, despite the heavy rainfall.
When we speak about rainfall, it truly was impressive to see how this hampers production and shipment in all of our operational activities. The characteristic of this Q1 26 was not only the intensity of the rainfall, but the very strong rainfall that we observed. In one day, we would have more rain that we should have in 10 days. This, of course, has caused several problems, and we have been able to overcome the problem and continue producing. It was truly exceptional when it comes to mining, steel and cement segments, all of which suffered from the effects of this unbalanced rainfall in the first quarter. Despite this, Tecar also reached a record in terms of cost. We had a cost reduction, a significant cost reduction.
I would say, therefore, that mining, according to our assessment and our outlook, worked in an exceptional fashion, presenting exceptional results. In steel, once again, despite the impact of rainfall causing not only flooding problems, but also energy problems, we eventually had significant energy cuts because of the rainfalls. Of course, this hampers not only production, but flow. We were able to overcome this. In January and February, we had weak results. In March, we observed significant improvements responsible for 50% of the results of production in the quarter. With all of these efforts that are being deployed, especially in steel from the operational viewpoint and from the rationalizing methods and systems and working systems and reduction of everything that we can do. We were able to have a much better March and April also has a positive outlook.
We observe growing results. We should have significant improvements in the second quarter in steel. Well, in cement we had an exceptional quarter, a consistent and stable path during the entire quarter presenting exceptional results. In the Q1 we had an EBITDA of BRL 400 million analyzed. It would represent BRL 1.6 billion. Our challenge is much greater than that. We're committed to that delivery. In logistics, we see one of the businesses with greatest potential in the CSN group. We're dealing with this very rationally, with a great deal of devotion to obtain ever more better results. Energy also had excellent performance. From the operational viewpoint of activities, we had a significant improvement in all of our segments. A cost reduction with a very strong cost control, working on the reduction of OpEx.
We're working daily to systematically reduce whatever can be reduced in OpEx. This is a challenge for the entire team that is devoted to this. Each unit is focusing on this. We begin to see results. Beginning in March, we were able to obtain practical results when it comes to the reduction of OpEx and inventories. In December, we had BRL 12 billion in inventory between raw material and products under production and finished products. Parts. We're working strongly to obtain cash enhancements, improvements in liquidity, offering us immediate results. It has been an enormous challenge in 2026 to truly reduce OpEx and reduce our inventories. I would like to take the opportunity to thank the work of all of our employees.
Thanks the teams from mining, Augusto, Aeneas, Energy, Edvaldo in Cement, Martinez in the operational part and others, as they're focusing on our operations. In 2026, we will obtain the necessary results to enhance the company's structural part. Capital allocation. We are being pressured to offer good results, which is the most important part. Regarding the sale of assets, we're rigorously following the schedule. We're not advancing faster or slower as there's a great deal to do. From the viewpoint of cement, we have received several non-binding proposals. Two proposals that are higher than we expected, and presently, we're in the subsequent process to get to a binding offer. We have a short-term set forth enabling us to focus on and accommodate these proposals to come to a favorable conclusion in terms of what we will do with cement.
In the sector of logistics, we also have a schedule. We have been working strongly, and we're going to continue on with this to hold negotiations with a strategic partner in the coming months. Regarding our working capital, our greatest priority is to reduce inventories, as I mentioned, and we're working in a more intelligent way to manage our capital. You can observe this through the reduction of indebtedness. These are the priorities we have set forth: operational enhancement, our commitment with delivery, and a reduction of inventory. This is work that is being carried out consistently with great seriousness, bringing about immediate results as of March, and I'm convinced that they will greatly contribute so that this year we can see positive results. We have opportunities in the non-operational field.
We're trying to proceed with speed. This will enable us to have a special year when it comes to our capital structure. We're also very optimistic regarding these changes and regarding the results. Prices are being ascertained. The mining price, $111 spot, is much higher than we had foreseen. Of course, there's also the cost of transportation and the increase in the price of oil. We're dealing with that. The margins have been maintained and have been improved. From the viewpoint of price in mining in steel that we began to see in March because of the anti-dumping measures put in place, this will favor the Q2 going forward. We can reduce the amounts, improve price, perhaps minimally. This will enable us to better perform and have better margins.
All of the other sectors, logistics and energy, working with a very good outlook. We're quite enthusiastic. I'm not trying to push non-existent optimism on anybody. Quite the contrary, we're living through a highly realistic period in the company so that we can move away from that situation that we have because of an excess of assets, an excess of inventory. We want to go into a more balanced situation in terms of capital structure to continue on with our business. I would like to thank everybody. I especially thank our own employees for the herculean efforts that they're deploying. We're working together, working strongly with a very clear goal in mind. Thank you very much for your participation.
Thank you, Benjamin. Very well. Let's go on to the question and answer session. We will now begin the question and answer session for investors and analysts. Should you have a question, please click on the Raise Hand icon or send your question through the Q&A icon. Our first question comes from Daniel Sasson from Itaú BBA. You may proceed.
Good afternoon to everybody. Thank you for taking my question. My first question goes to Martinez for the operations in steel. Martinez, if you could help us by commenting on the use of capacity. Presently, you were importing BQ, if there has been an increase in capacity, something that could help you in the dilution of fixed costs, and if there's room to increase your volumes. Which has been the impact of the anti-dumping measures? If you could comment on the internal surveys of volumes that are being rerouted to other regions such as South Korea. A more direct question referring to prices. Martinez, you're trying to increase the price five percent again. How is this working? How is the demand reacting to this? This would help us to understand the gradual recovery of margins in steel. Thank you very much.
Hello, Daniel. Once again, thank you for the question. Very broad question indeed. As always, I will give you an overview of what we see in the market. I will speak little about the Q1 and try to speak about what we see for the rest of the year. In the first quarter, we had an important mission to reduce our inventory. We did this in a relevant way. Production delivered less products of added value than we needed. With this, we got to the edge in the strategy. We had a value over volume.
We had to keep the prices in line, which is when we stopped. Volume and price were highly aligned, which was very possible. We also fostered a greater reduction in inventory, which also happened in the international market. We took advantage of what was happening in Europe to export 20,000-25,000 tons of tinplate to Europe. This could be good news because of the geopolitical scenario in the coming months for the continuance of operations. We've spoken about March. January and February were very difficult months because of the beginning of the year. That in truth began in March. We focused on the sales of March. We were able to increase volumes considerably as well as prices. Without a doubt, in the Q2 , we will have better results. I'll give you the reasons for this.
Regarding the international market, which is an important variable. In China, the prices that were at BRL 450, BRL 430 of BQT, we now see prices of BRL 500, the highest price for the last one and a half years in China. This is a very positive piece of information. In Europe, in Lusosider operation, we were able to increase the price by EUR 100. They're benefiting from the reduction of quotas in Europe, reducing supply and offering opportunities for products that were not feasible in the past and now are. In the U.S., there's a great deal of discussion, a great deal of complaint, but the fact is that the price has increased. There is a problem of inflation, a problem of affordability, BRL 200, BRL 300 of increase.
We don't need to be different from the rest of the world. We're going to quickly catch up on what is happening in other regions of the world. To speak about American steel plants, their margins are good. US Steel, for example, besides the flat steels, they're producing 16% in flat steel, 12% in tube, 12%, 13%, which is what we want for the Q2 . I'm going to speak about how we can go back to a two-digit EBITDA margin. When it comes to cost with operational excellency, Benjamin mentioned this, our teams are trying to reduce that cost. Despite our Blast Furnace number two that is on shutdown, we continue to observe interesting opportunities for the purchase of BQT and slabs. We used less tinplate, 2,000 slabs as well.
Our goal for the Q2 is to work so that cost that is at BRL 3,200 throughout the second and third quarters can reach BRL 3,000 per ton. This would be a very expressive result. Of course, we could have the issue of the U.S. dollar that will benefit us. On the supply and demand pillar, in general, the sectors have shown stable demand. Some incursions of the Brazilian government to offer funding in the tool sector, implement sector, with a funding of eight percent interest rates a year for the businesses that have come to a standstill because of agribusiness. We also have the inventories at the Instituto Aço Brasil. These are inventories for domestic steel and the automotive and white line products that are continuing on with a positive trend.
When it comes to imports, the Q2 , the drop in imports is given. It's a given. You wrote a report at Itaú BBA that clearly shows what the exports of Korea to Brazil would represent. We see that the lineups of 600,000 tons, the lineups now are of two ships. I imagine that in the second and third quarter, we will have interesting demand because of this incredible drop in imports. China no longer gets to Brazil with the measures correctly applied by the government for commercial defense. Well, it's impossible to get to China. What we're avoiding today, and with the new Minister of Trade and Industry taking on his position, we have spoken further on trade defense, on circumvention and change to be able to classify some items and not bring them in with this tariff.
Besides the Manaus Free Zone, which is also a place that has increased imports through Manaus. This is the scenario. It is a given. It will take place, and CSN will be highly privileged because up to present, we had more imports of coated material. We suffered more than any other company in Brazil. In my order book, I see a positive trend that tends to continue for the second and third quarters. The premium of Chinese material today, there's very little of this, but the premium is 10% or perhaps lower in terms of the coated product. It's no longer worthwhile importing anything from China. We're using our value-added strategy in the main downstream lines, increasing the production of tinplate, the jewel of the crown in Brazil.
With the oil crisis, we have seen increases of 30%, 40%, making it possible to use tinplate packaging in several industries. My expectation for steel for the second quarter is a return of two-digit margins. At the last call, I said we would increase prices three-four percent. We have caught up on prices, yeah, but they were influenced by mix and inventory. We're going to work with prices of 350, 380 for the Q2 , and the price in April was implemented an increase of five percent. We have another price increase in May with higher resistance from the market, but we should end the Q2 with an increase of five-eight percent for coated material, mainly. In the Q2 , we're going to continue to work with inventory. I have tinplate inventories.
Obviously, we're going to try to reduce the inventory without compromising margins, and this will help us in deleveraging and debt reduction. I think that is all, Daniel. I don't know if I forgot anything. I think I have fully covered your question. The scenario for steel is quite positive. It's based on facts and data in the reports that you have prepared, and I have read them all, especially the one that you prepared. They show us clearly that this is the trend for the second and third quarters. If demand aids and abets us, we will recover our margins, and this is associated to the reduction of discounts. This should increase, and perhaps we can even have a price increase. That is all, Daniel. If you have another question, please pose it.
Our next question comes from Mr. Rafael Barcellos from Bradesco BBI.
Good afternoon. Thank you for taking our question. A follow-up, Martinez, on your answer and overview. Simply to check if we understood properly, five percent increase in April, two percent carryover from the movement in March, seven percent for the Q2 . Simply to confirm this fact. Based on what you said of the global movements and domestic movements of trade defense, and to better understand your vision, there's a global side that we have seen since the beginning of the conflict in the Middle East. The cost of steel increased as it did in Brazil. In your vision, with this tariff quota, with anti-dumping, will this help to change the sector in a more structural way? Which is the information or expectation you have for the renewal of the tariff quota in May or June?
My second question, an update on the divestiture process of the company announced at the beginning of the year. If there's a more relevant update, an additional detail that you can share for the cement operation, it's been broadly spoken about, and if you have assessed any additional structure in the meantime.
Thank you for the possibility of reinforcing some points about the steel segment, Rafael. At the close of April, our price already increased in April. This comes from a stronger March. The increase was 5%-6.5%, depending on the product line. In May, we have a scheduled increase for the second fortnight of May. I'm being quite surgical, very cautious, because I don't want to ruin a positive equation that we have at present, which is the recovery of the volume of coated material.
As an example, 7,000, 8,000 done at Galvasul for the U.S., which we're no longer doing. We're bringing these volumes in Brazil and tinplate 10,000, 15,000, 20,000. We're already at 17,000, reducing inventories in Europe as well. We're working strongly so that this scenario can materialize between five and seven percent for the Q2 . I'm not concerned about volumes. For some time already, we haven't had such an interesting order book. I have two months and 13 days of portfolio. This allows me a certain comfort for planning. We don't put all of the eggs in the same basket. We're very divided among sectors. We're definitely increasing the number of clients. We have doubled our fragmentation in the market, and we will attain the results expected, both in price and in volume.
Regarding the global movements for trade defense, an important piece of information. It took us 2 years to adopt measures. Those anti-dumping activities for tinplate, for cold laminated products and others certainly have put China outside of Brazil when it comes to competitiveness. There's no doubt about that. What we're expecting now until July is that the anti-dumping be put in for hot rolled products and to put dumping on tinplate against Germany, Netherlands and India that is appearing as a possible importer from Brazil. Without speaking of those countries like Egypt that have a bilateral agreement with Brazil. We're working strongly on this.
Another important point, and I would like to stress the word strong, with the internal revenue, we're holding conversations so they can supervise imports from Vietnam and other countries to ensure that there is the Form B that has to be filled up so that the origin can be preserved. We're trying to combat illegal activity and imports as circumvention or derailing of trade. In the higher added value material, we're working with Inmetro to see if they can create a technical barrier also to help us in this, if this will be sufficient or not, this is what we have at present. The renewal of the tariff quota could happen. At present, what would be more effective would be for the government to put a tariff for all products. Rafael, there's another movement that is more serious than we imagined.
It's interesting because several associations were criticizing steel, blaming steel, and the imports of steel. Associations that said there was no import of steel whatsoever. What is happening, besides the well-known case of automobiles, is that there are other products like machines or white line that are coming ready-made to Brazil. The finished products are coming to Brazil. Something that normally happens in these processes of invasion of China in other markets. In terms of industry and in terms of clients at present, because of the pain and more than the love, we can try to join together to work against this and to work on the industrial chain more fully, more wholly. We're going to do what we have to do in the Q2 , but continue to work with other countries. The geopolitical scenario is highly relevant. It is changing, and we will follow up on those changes.
Rafael, you spoke about the cement operation, M&A operations or the industrial production of cement. Speaking of the divestiture process, if you have additional information besides what you said at the beginning of the call. As I mentioned, and as Benjamin reinforced, the process is on track based on our original schedule. We continue to believe that we will sign an SPA at the beginning of the year. We have received a high number of proposals, non-binding offers for the acquisition of this asset. It surprised us. We know the quality of CSN Cimentos. It's the best platform of growth in Brazil. We know the quality of the assets, high generation of energy, the best margin of EBIT in the sector. The Q1 simply is proof of that.
The coming week, we begin the phase of the binding offers. Among a group of players that have made proposals in the last few days, we are going to call upon a small number of players that will go on to the phase II. We will go on to doing the due diligence, technical visits and presentations. Two or three months from now, we will get to the end of this phase and with a binding offer presented to the company and the SPA fully discussed. In the second half of the year, the sale of this asset should be signed. We are speaking of a migration to a phase II because we have highly qualified proposals, not only from the viewpoint of players, but also the valuation. Rafael, I am not going to refer to the full strategy of cement.
You always know that we have been able to sell more for less, having operational excellence. In the Q1 of this year, vis-à-vis the Q1 of 2025, we had a price recovery of 18%. I'm stating that in the Q2 , besides the volume that will continue the best possible, we will have a price increase. As part of our results in the Q2 and the margins that we expect for the cement sector in the second quarter are better than the ones we presented in the Q1 . The scenario for cement is highly positive. All of the programs, Minha Casa, Minha Vida, projects for new buildings, all of these are proceeding strongly. This is a sector that is very resilient to interest rates, and we have several launches in Brazil.
In states, for example, that previously had not become important, even with a price increase and were suffering with this in petcoke. We will observe a price increase with a price realignment in the market. This is a very interesting moment in this business, a business that we worked so strongly in the last few years.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Our third question comes from Mr. Guilherme Nippes from XP. You may proceed.
Thank you. Thank you for taking my question. I have two questions. My first question referring to deleveraging. You have remarked broadly on the working capital management, flexibility and holding back CapEx and some investments and much more.
If you could speak about the sale of the cement segment, but which are the other alternatives that you have and in the part of infrastructure in divestment, if there are any updates that you could share with us. My second question, once again, in the line of cement, you have just spoken about the performance of results, and initially you spoke about a normalized EBITDA way above, multiplying the EBITDA of the Q1 by four. Now, how do you expect the performance in volume for the Q2 , price evolution and the cost evolution for the increase of petcoke that you have just mentioned? These are my questions.
Guilherme, I'll begin with the 1st part of the question regarding cements. I think we've already remarked on this for this year.
Cash will also depend on the antitrust agency, CADE, this is the first relevant movement for the deleveraging of the company. Of course, there's everything we announced on January 15th, much better qualitatively than we had expected in the call. As part of working capital, the company created a company that we discussed in March and began in April to improve the debt of the company and in terms of working capital of the company, to eliminate material volumes that could represent some billions of BRL, and whose main focus is the reduction of inventory, MRO, intermediate products, finished products from all segments that have a higher contribution. This is a mass of BRL 12 billion. All of this would contribute to the company cash.
This asset is very relevant and undergoes the weekly follow-up of the company and will contribute to our cash flow for the year. Of course, we're working on the company CapEx. We're holding back the CapEx level similar to 2025. Of course, there is a growth because of P15 that will have to be concluded until the end of 2027. When we compare this quarter with the same quarter last year, investments were similar with a reduction in steel and an increase in mining because of the speed up in P15. These are a few billion BRL. If the flow cash of the year is not what we want, we can continue managing this. In other calls, the commitment of the company is a material deleveraging. Benjamin mentioned this as we did ourselves in our call.
We have the cement process, the infrastructure process that is doing very well. In the last few months, we have devoted a great deal of time to long-term contracts, ports and customers, tariffs and other conditions so that the potential buyer can receive a full package of information that is highly detailed. In the Q2 , we will speed up the infrastructure process. In the next call, we should be offering you very good news. Besides these two topics in deleveraging, the company has non-core assets that can also be used to complement or increase the deleveraging pace of the company. We have real estate. They're not operational. We have several billion BRL of assets that could be monetized in the short and medium term, besides other activities, of course, that are not core for the company. The focus, therefore, is on speeding up as much as possible.
What we see this year, besides cement and infrastructure, we're working on working capital that will provide positive results and other sales initiatives of assets of the company that we will announce further ahead. In the next call, we should have good news on that front.
Guilherme, this is Edvaldo. To try to answer your question on supply, I believe it's important to highlight that we have a resilient market. Last year, Brazil was at 3.7%. In this quarter, we are above two percent, a positive outlook in that sense. As was mentioned here, we have significant cost pressure at present on the entire sector, not only in our company, because of the international geopolitical scenario. All of this brings about a price increase in raw material. In Brazil, we have diesel minimum rate increases. Of course, this leads to a cost increase.
As Martinez mentioned, in the trade strategy and profitability strategy, we're working towards offsetting that cost increase. In the market, we're using our plants at above 70%. Of course, this will facilitate the recovery of prices. The use of companies in Brazil is quite low. This will be one of the main drivers for cement during the year. In the first quarter, we had a historical record for the company. It was a record that normally was low. Without making projections, we have the expectation that in coming quarters these figures will be even stronger. All of this based on our internal competencies, differentials, our competitive edge. The fragmentation of sales, as Martinez mentioned, a very assertive quest for productivity, a focus on better quality. We are the greatest user of railroad for the distribution of cement in Brazil. This, of course, is very important.
Streamlined plants on the average compared to the rest of the sector, with a low energy consumption and optimized structure of people with great competency, a strong cost management in the company. We have all of those in-house elements that allow us to have a positive and resilient market to deliver the levels mentioned by Marco and Benjamin in the coming quarters. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Our next question comes from Ricardo Monegaglia from Safra . You may continue.
Good afternoon to everybody. Thank you for taking our two questions, perhaps more geared to Marco Rabello. First, the bridge loan. You said that there is a potential expansion of the BRL 1.2 billion initial to BRL 1.4 billion. Which are the conditions for this expansion? You also mentioned that the cash of the loan will be earmarked for short-term amortizations.
Which are the priorities in this sense to reduce your loan? If you could give us more color in the gains we can see here in NCG for the reduction of debt. If there is a positive impact in terms of your financial expenses that are being paid. The second question, a follow-up on the cement M&A. Which is the company mindset. Does it make more sense for the company to sell to a strategic partner or financial partner? How much of the company will be sold out, 60, 50 or 100%? The brownfield, because part of the equipment has already been purchased, how much is included in the valuation that you're working with these different stakeholders at present?
Ricardo, thank you for the questions. Let's begin with the bridge loan here. The bridge loan is a bridge loan.
It's in the format of a committed loan. We're withdrawing what we need. We don't want to pay unnecessary interest rates. We withdraw the money as we use it in refunding. The expansion to $1.4 billion will be based on the company decisions. This operation was important for some reasons. One, to show the bankability of CSN and how it is supported by the financial market. We have several banks that have joined here, and there are four more banks that want to be part of this syndicate for the $1.4 billion. I'm not going to use all of the resources to pay more commitment fees and use the company resources. Once again, the decision depends on us. If the decision to sell cement proceeds rapidly and efficiently, I won't have to use that funding line. The cement will do its job.
We don't want financial inefficiency, we will take the decision in terms of what to do. If we could do away with the debt of 2027, 2028 and going forward, we could refinance that resource. Our decision will take into account the less efficient debts, those that have a structure we don't want to remain in or where the cost is undue for the company, and of course, the best negotiations at banks where to roll the debt, we can pay the lowest installment of the debt and roll it under better conditions of other bank. The banks that will offer the best conditions will be a priority in the use of that cash. We want the longest debt at the lowest cost. Those that offer the more efficient conditions will be in a privileged position. We have the bond for 2028.
$1.3 billion with maturity in 2028. We want to decrease that as soon as possible and use part of the cash and the refunding of this bond. Whatever we do will be relevant. It's important as part of the company plan to do this as soon as possible. We don't want to get to 2027 to deal with this. We want to do this in the next months of the year 2026. The NPV of that line, we haven't carried out a financial exchange. We don't know the condition of the debt. We haven't worked on a calculation of NPV. For cement, we should receive a very large volume of binding offers in some days. All of the players on the table are strategic in any M&A program. They always have the best acquisition proposal for the assets.
The sales percentage, we're selling the control. We're selling the control of the company. The sales percentage will be defined by the buyer. They will define if they want to acquire 70%, 80% or 100%. We're selling the control. The goal is to raise sufficient funds to deleverage the group as a whole. Regarding the greenfield projects, I will allow Edvaldo to comment on this.
I think the question was if the greenfields are included in the transaction. Yes, they are. Of course, these are very interesting mature projects. We have worked strongly on them in the last few years. We have mines, land, environmental licenses that have already been approved or under approval. This increases the value. We have to see what we're truly expecting as part of this process.
Excellent. Thank you very much. Besides the greenfields that Edvaldo remarked on, the property does belong to CSN. We have two power plants that are generating energy and other important assets. A huge volume of mining rights and others. That transforms CSN on the best growth platform in the entire country. Thank you very much.
Our next question comes from Mr. Pedro Melo from Citi. You may proceed. Good afternoon. Pedro, you can unmute your microphone.
Very well. Can you hear me? Thank you for taking our questions. First of all, congratulations for the results in cement. My question, once again, will be about some points on the vertical that have not been explored. Variables that will better help us understand the transaction. Does it help to think about the evolution of BRL 1.6 billion-BRL 2 billion valuation? You're reviewing your expectations for the year for this vertical.
Well, is the valuation closer to 1.6 or 2.6? This is my question. If you can confirm the net debt of this vertical expected by the end of the year, this could help us to analyze the sales multiples. Third of all, how long-lasting can this cement movement be, in your opinion, given the expectation of drop of interest rates at some point of time? Thank you. Pedro, well, let's answer the questions between Martinez, Edvaldo, and myself. Yes, the sector as a whole is recognizing that the year 2026 is a good year, and the valuation of the EBITDA varies from quarter to quarter. Perhaps Martinez can reinforce this. It's connected to finally having a price recovery in the cement sector. In Brazil, it was almost BRL 100. In Brazil and the U.S., our price was one-third.
There's enormous room for recovery in the price of cement. Before handing over the floor, the question on net debt. At the end of the year in cement, BRL 2.8 billion of net debt. I'll correct myself, he says, we're not leveraging the company anymore. We're holding back on this BRL 2.8 billion. If we use the assumption of the EBITDA last year, you can look at the difference and take this away from our net debt. The rest will be transformed into cash generation, BRL 680 million in working capital, and this could go up to BRL 2 billion. This is not company guidance. You would have to do this exercise. Pedro, regarding the question about the market, a parenthesis here. Edvaldo can complement this.
He clearly mentioned that the level of utilization of the industry is 75%-80%, which is very relevant. You can say it's far from 100, but it is not. Above that capacity, the cost does not make it feasible to compete. All of this underscored by the issue of freight. Now, cement, the result is a net FOB. You want to sell as close as possible to have the best margins. All of this has an influence and leverages us a great deal, as we are positioned in locations we selected to service the market as a whole. A clear example, 2013, 2014, World Cup and Olympic Games. Consumption was 71 -72 million tons a year. After that, there was a drop in 2015. It dropped to a low level of 53 million.
We're now back at BRL 65 million or BRL 66 million. Still not at the level of BRL 71 million, BRL 72 million. From the market viewpoint, this year we don't see any reversal in this if we look at projections of Sinduscon and other entities, people from IBRACON, from concrete, industrialized construction. The projections are all positive. The GDP for civil construction is 2%-2.5% for coming years. Funding, which is somewhat expensive, is still strong and resilient, especially in Minha Casa, Minha Vida. Sale of new buildings from some ranges continues to be normal, regionalized with different demands among states. From the viewpoint of the market, I do believe we have a robust equation, at least for this year. To speak about price recovery in the second quarter.
At the end of April, he corrects himself, we're going to have an EBITDA of BRL 380 million every quarter, much more expressive than what we had in the 1st quarter. I'll give the floor to Edvaldo to add to this. Quickly, the drivers of the sector are, first of all, volume. We said the market is growing. We're going to follow up on the market growth with a focus on profitability, of course. Another point that is under pressure is cost. Through a strong management of cost in-house of whatever it is that we can control and operational efficiency, we hope to mitigate those impacts. Of course, the price issue that is necessary. The price of cement in Brazil is one of the lowest in the world, and there is no more streamlined industry operating at 75%-80% of its capacity.
There's significant space for price recovery, which is happening now, and I hope it will continue to take place and offset the cost increases. These three drivers will lead us to the figures that we mentioned here, with better results than the first quarter. Thank you very much. Have a good afternoon.
Our next question comes from Mr. Caio Ribeiro from Morgan Stanley. You may proceed, sir.
Good afternoon. Thank you for taking my questions. A question to Martinez. Referring to the quota tariff is about to expire this month. If you could give us some color in terms of the discussions with the government, if the idea is to renew it based on the same parameters expanded to other products. What is it that you see regarding that system, if it will be canceled, if it will be renewed? How are the discussions proceeding?
Thank you for the question, Caio. This system of commercial defense is still under discussion. The government has several levers. They have a broader outlook that they had in the past. They're looking at the links of the production chain as a whole to avoid the de-industrialization of the company because import impacts all other industrial chains, and this will help us make decisions. They're analyzing expanding this system even further. There's a possibility that we're working with of putting a tariff for other products that are still on the outside to neutralize imports that have an enormous dumping margins from other countries other than China. The cold-rolled process against Korea clearly shows that there are margins that are equal or higher than in China and that it needs to be combated.
The more important part is that the government is more receptive and more interested in continuing to have a growing industry and the entire sector in the country.
Our next question comes from Mr. Nicholas from Jefferies. You may proceed, sir.
Good morning. Thank you for the call. Two quick questions. First, about the cement bridge loan, if you could confirm how much of the loan has already been withdrawn, how much that you expect to disburse on that line. Second, conversations on the refunding of the bond 2028, proposal for an exchange offer, if you could update us on that process for the refunding of the 2028 bond loan. Thank you very much.
Nicholas, thank you for the question. Regarding the bridge loan, we have already withdrawn for use about one-third, so there's quite a bit of space for further discussion. There is still important space to work on good refunding for the company, It depends on whether we will expand it or not. If we expand it to BRL 1.6 billion. For the 2028 bond, we still have not made a refunding proposal.
We are discussing this in-house, interacting with people who are always looking for us with analysts, We have not made a formal proposal, and we don't know which will be the format of the proposal, whether it is an exchange or not. We would like to do that in the short term, nevertheless.
Our next question comes from Mr. Julian Lautersztain from Oaktree.
Hello. Which is your amortization schedule per quarter? We know that you paid a great deal for 2026. What will happen for the in that rest of the year?
Julian, how are you? Thank you for the question. For the maturity of the year, as we have in the presentation and in the release, we have BRL 6 billion that will have to be renegotiated to be paid for and renegotiated. The amortization is stable during the quarters. There is no concentration on a specific quarter. The highest installment was the bond 2026 paid last month in April. Now we have bank debt paid throughout the year. No enormous concentration on any quarter. To answer part of Nicholas's question. That will be of help here. Our idea is to use the BRL 1.2 billion bridge loan fully in the coming four months. Now, the anatomy of the amortization in 2026, 2027 could change in the coming four months. We're going to be very active in refunding our debt.
Our next question comes from Mr. Charles Walters from Sandglass.
Could you please explain the status of the bank rolling for 2026, 2027?
Charles, thank you for the question. Aligned with what we've remarked here recently, the debt schedule is what we presented with our debt maturity chart. We're negotiating simultaneously with several creditors. We'll see how this graph will change. We're actively speaking with several different players. Some bank debts have already been rescheduled without counterparts or partial payments. They're being fully rescheduled. We're speaking with banks that work very closely with us. We're doing this in a very natural way, lengthening the debts. New debts are being contracted with other players without partial payment. We will have a better vision in three or four months, as I answered in the previous question made by Julian.
We would like to remind you that should you wish to pose a question, please click on the Raise Hand icon or send your question through the Q&A icon. Thank you. As we have no further questions, we will return the floor to Mr. Marco Rabello, Executive Director, for the closing remarks.
To make the most of the end of the presentation, and by reinforcing the gratitude that Benjamin expressed for all of the employees, we would like to thank all of you who attended this conference. Thus, we conclude our earnings call for the Q1 26. Thank you very much. Thank you. The CSN earnings call ends here. Have a very good day.