Earnings call transcript: Usiminas Q3 2025 sees strong cash flow, market challenges

Usiminas, the Brazilian steel producer with a market capitalization of $1.14 billion, reported its third-quarter earnings for 2025, highlighting a robust cash generation of R$630 million despite facing market challenges. The company’s net revenue stood at R$6.6 billion, slightly lower than the previous quarter, while its adjusted EBITDA reached R$434 million, representing a 7% margin. Usiminas also noted a 45% increase in its nine-month EBITDA compared to 2024. According to InvestingPro analysis, the stock appears undervalued based on its Fair Value calculations, suggesting potential upside for investors. Despite these achievements, the company is navigating a challenging market environment characterized by increased imports and competitive pressures.

Key Takeaways

• Usiminas generated strong free cash flow of R$630 million.
• The company’s net debt was reduced, with a leverage ratio of 0.16x.
• Steel sales volume increased by 1.1% to 1.1 million tons.
• The Brazilian steel market is facing pressure from a 33% increase in flat steel imports.
• Usiminas is investing in PCI plant and blast furnace improvements.

Company Performance

Usiminas demonstrated resilience in Q3 2025, with significant cash generation and a strong balance sheet. The company maintains impressive financial health metrics, with InvestingPro data showing a healthy current ratio of 4.16 and a conservative debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company reduced its net debt and maintained a low leverage ratio. However, the Brazilian steel market remains challenging, with increased imports affecting domestic producers. Usiminas is focusing on maintaining its leadership in value-added products and seeking antidumping measures to protect its market position. For detailed insights into Usiminas’s financial health and extensive peer comparison analysis, investors can access the comprehensive Pro Research Report available on InvestingPro.

Financial Highlights

• Net revenue: R$6.6 billion (slightly lower than previous quarter)
• Adjusted EBITDA: R$434 million (7% margin)
• Free cash flow: R$630 million
• Steel sales volume: 1.1 million tons (1.1% increase)
• Mining sales volume: 2.5 million tons (2% increase)
• Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) per ton reduced by 3% in the steel business

Outlook & Guidance

Looking ahead, Usiminas expects continued cost reductions in Q4 2025, with stable net revenues per ton. The company’s financial stability is reflected in its strong Altman Z-Score of 8.73 and overall "GOOD" Financial Health rating from InvestingPro. However, the company anticipates lower sales volumes due to year-end seasonality. Capital expenditures are projected to remain near the lower limit of R$1.2 billion, with ongoing investments in the PCI plant and other key projects. The company has maintained modest revenue growth of 2.74% over the last twelve months, with analysts tracking multiple ProTips regarding its growth potential and market position.

Executive Commentary

Marcelo Teixeira, President of Usiminas, expressed confidence in the company’s ability to adapt and deliver value. He highlighted ongoing investments in blast furnace improvements and other strategic projects. Teixeira also acknowledged the challenging conditions in the steel market, particularly those impacting industrial goods with steel components.

Risks and Challenges

• Increased imports: The rise in flat steel imports poses a threat to domestic producers.
• Market pressures: The Brazilian steel market continues to face competitive pressures.
• Seasonal sales decline: Anticipated lower sales volumes in Q4 due to seasonality.
• Automotive sector recovery: The sector remains below pre-pandemic levels, affecting demand.
• Regulatory measures: The need for antidumping measures to protect the domestic industry.

Usiminas remains focused on strategic investments and operational efficiency to navigate these challenges and sustain its market position.

Full transcript - Usinas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais SA USIMINAS Pref (USIM5) Q3 2025:

Leonardo Karam, Investor Relations Officer, Usiminas: Good morning. Welcome to the conference call of Usinas Siderúrgicas de Minas Gerais S.A. (Usiminas), in which the results of the third quarter of 2025 will be discussed. I’m Leonardo Karam, Investor Relations Officer at Usiminas. To those who wish to follow the presentation in English, a free translation of the webcast presentation is available on Usiminas’ Investor Relations website. We also have an interpreter providing simultaneous translation. Please select the audio channel using the icon at the bottom of your Zoom screen. All participants are connected in listen-only mode, and your questions can be submitted in writing through Zoom’s Q&A feature. Click on the icon at the bottom of your screen. Participants listening in English may also submit their questions directly in this section. This conference call is being recorded and simultaneously broadcast on the Usiminas’ YouTube channel.

We would like to remind you that this conference call is exclusively for investors and market analysts. We kindly ask you to identify yourself so that your questions can be addressed. We also request that any questions from journalists be directed to the Media Relations team at Usiminas via email at imprensa@usiminas.com. Before proceeding, we would like to clarify that any forward-looking statements that may be made during this conference call regarding the prospects of the company’s business, as well as projections, operational and financial goals related to its growth potential, constitute forecasts based on the management’s expectations regarding the future of Usiminas. These expectations are highly dependent on the performance of the steel sector, the country’s economic situation, and the situation on the market at the international level, so they are subject to change.

With us today are our President, Marcelo Teixeira, the Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations, Tiago Rodrigues, and our Commercial Vice President, Miguel Holmes. First, Marcelo will make a few remarks. Then, Tiago will present the results. Afterwards, the questions asked in the Q&A section will be answered. Now, I give the floor to Marcelo. Please, Marcelo.

Marcelo Teixeira, President, Usiminas: Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, everyone. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It’s a pleasure to be here with you to share the results for the third quarter of 2025. This quarter was marked by important advances in our management, with the consolidation of our operational stability, continuity of the cost reduction plan, and the evolution of our priority CapEx project. These initiatives reinforce our strategy of ensuring competitiveness and sustainability for the business in the long term. In this quarter, we achieved an adjusted EBITDA of R$434 million, with a margin of 7%, representing growth compared to the previous period. I would like to highlight the following: the 3% reduction in COGS per ton in the steel business unit compared to the second quarter, as a result of the expense and cost reduction plan.

We posted a growth in sales volume in the steel business unit, despite the increasing pressure from imports under unfair conditions. We reported higher prices and volumes in mining, strong cash generation exceeding R$600 million in the period, and reduced leverage, mainly due to the control and efficient management of raw material inventories. In the market environment, we remain vigilant and concerned about the increase in subsidized imports due to the excess global production capacity, particularly in China, which continues to negatively impact the entire domestic industry. Imports increased by 33% in the first nine months of 2025 as to flat steel compared to the same period of the previous year. We do not clearly see the effect of the tariff quota system on import penetration.

The antidumping cases of heavy plates that have been extended for five years as a measure against China and South Korea, as well as the one for metal sheets, where the duty was also applied against China, and the one for pre-painted steel, which is at an advanced stage, give us confidence in the technical capacity of the authorities of the Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services to recommend effective measures against the serious damage that affects the entire steel value chain in Brazil. The challenging conditions are also impacting industrial goods that include steel components. Data from AlphaVia shows that compared to 2024, there was an 11% growth in the registration of imported light vehicles and only 2% of domestic light vehicles.

In the machinery and equipment sector, data from the National Industry Association, ABIMAC, shows an accumulated annual increase of 9% in imports, with a trade deficit of the sector totaling $13 billion this year alone. Due to this imbalance in international trade, we have seen important movements, such as that of the United States, which raised its tariff on imported steel, and Europe, which proposes to tighten current safeguard measures, proposing a tariff quota system with a sharp reduction in volumes and an increase in tariffs, with the aim of protecting jobs and the local industry in Europe. For the fourth quarter of 2025, we expect to continue reducing costs due to efficiency and raw material prices, stable net revenues per ton, and lower volumes due to the typical seasonality of the period at the end of the year.

As for mining, volumes are expected to be slightly lower but to remain higher in 2025 than in 2024, consistent with our planning. I would like to point out that despite the challenges of the external environment and the pressures on the domestic industry, we remain confident in our ability to adapt and deliver sustainable value to our customers and shareholders. We believe that with discipline, strategic focus, and the commitment of our entire team, we will continue to advance and consolidate our leading position in the sector. I thank everyone for their trust and partnership, and we continue together building the future of Usinas Siderúrgicas de Minas Gerais S.A. in the Brazilian industry. Thank you.

Leonardo Karam, Investor Relations Officer, Usiminas: Thank you, Marcelo. Good morning, everyone. We are now going to start with our presentation about the results for the quarter. We would like to start that we showed improvements in the main performance indicators in the third quarter of 2025, even considering the complex scenario that we are facing in Brazil and abroad, as mentioned by Marcelo. Sales volume increased in steel and for mining 2%. Consolidated EBITDA had an increase of 6% in relation to the previous quarter, and the highlight is the strong free cash generation of R$630 million, as in a drop of our net debt and our leverage ratio. We can see the consolidated results on the next slide. Net revenue was R$6.6 billion, slightly lower than the previous period, and the impact was the lower prices in the steel segment.

The revenue was higher than last year, and it was driven by mining in particular. Adjusted EBITDA was R$434 million, 7% margin, and slightly higher than the previous quarter as a result of the best operational performance in the steel area. Accumulated EBITDA in the nine months of 2025 amounts to R$1.6 billion, 45% when compared to the same period of 2024. Net income did not reflect the best operational results of the quarter, as we mentioned, due to the accounting effects of R$3.6 billion related to impairment of assets, as well as deferred taxes. Those effects are accountable for accounting effects and generate no effects on the cash of the company. Otherwise, the net record would be R$10.8 million in the quarter. Next slide.

You have seen the steel sales volume was higher, 1.1 million tons, a bit higher than the previous quarter, showing the resilience of the demands of our main segments. The accumulated volume is above what we posted in 2024, but it’s important to mention that in the same period, the apparent demand of steel increased by 6%. In other words, this increase of demand was captured by subsidized imports, reinforcing the need of implementing antidumping measures, as Marcelo has previously mentioned. Moving to net revenue, the unfair competition that we mentioned affected the prices in the period. We had reductions in the quarter, especially in the sector of distribution. Exports were impacted by the mix, except for high-grade steel, and there was a 3.5% drop, reaching R$5.8 billion.

In spite of the complex market scenario, we offset the drop in revenue with a reduction in cost and expenses, reaching a 7% higher result, and EBITDA of 30.8%. EBITDA amounts to R$1.1 billion, 44% when compared to 2024. On the next slide, we show the main variations of the quarterly result. Here we can see the drop of 3.5% of net income per ton generated loss in the result, and the offset came through the reduction of costs in sales that generated an increase of R$164 million, which was expected. This was also driven by the appreciation of the real and also the drop in the price of raw material, but also with the gain in efficiency in our operations. We have a positive effect due to lower SG&A expenses and contingencies. In the next quarter, we continue reducing costs, and our expenses are expected to remain stable.

As for mining, the production volume was 4% higher when compared to the second quarter due to the operational yield, which was higher, and sales had an increase of 2% with 2.5 million per ton, which was the highest volume of the quarter since 2021. Net revenue was 4% higher when compared to the previous period, with better reference prices and lower discounts related to quality, but it was partially offset by the devaluation of the dollar. Net revenue amounts to R$2.8 billion and 27% higher than the accumulated revenue of 2024. The cost per ton for the quarter had an increase, especially due to the freight tariff hike, and the EBITDA of the third quarter was R$130 million and slightly higher when compared to the previous quarter, and the accumulated was 60% higher than 2024.

Now talking about the financial indicators, this quarter we had a strong cash generation with an important generation of working capital due to the reduction of raw materials, which stand at a normalized level nowadays after an increase that we had in the first quarter, a one-off effect. The CapEx was R$266 million, and we keep advancing with the main projects that are going to generate gains for Usiminas, especially the PCI plant that is going to be completed in the beginning of next year, and the hot repair, and the coke plants that are going to be completed in 2028 and 2029. We ended with free cash flow of R$630 million. In relation to working capital, we can see a reduction at a lower volume, but we can see a reduction, especially due to the lower volumes that were estimated for sales in the steel business unit.

As for CapEx, the expectation is to follow our guidance close to the lower limit of R$1.2 billion. Next slide. We can see the strong cash generation has made the debt to be reduced, as commented before, closing close to R$300 million and reduced the leverage to 0.16 times. In this quarter, we also ended the repurchase of the bonds that are going to mature in 2026, and we also took the opportunity of the favorable conditions to anticipate R$160 million of the new debenture issuance. With this, we continue with a very solid financial position and with a scheduled elongated debt that will make us focus on our operating performance and continue with our investment plan. I’ll turn back to Leo so that we can start the Q&A session. Leo, please.

Tiago Rodrigues, Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations, Usiminas: Thank you, Tiago.

Leonardo Karam, Investor Relations Officer, Usiminas: Thank you, Thiago. We are going to start with the session of Q&A. Our first question is to Marcelo and Miguel, and this is the most asked question about antidumping. There are many questions coming from Marcelo Faria, Carla Greiner from BES, Caio Ribeiro from BOFA, Marcelo Arisi BTG, Tati Candini, Igor Guedes from Genial, Lucas Lagnar from XP, Dana Salsão from Taub BBA. All of them are asking about antidumping, and I’m going to try to concentrate on the following topics. Are you confident in the implementation of antidumping measures? What’s your vision nowadays? What changes since the preliminary decision? Are the deadlines being maintained? Are there delays likely to happen up to February? Is there a possibility that even if the antidumping measure is adopted, the market will continue being pressured? Can other countries be involved?

If there is the antidumping implementation, is there any chance of going back to getting the blast furnace number one back into operation? Thank you, Leo, for all the questions. This is a very relevant topic, and we have been mentioning all of this in the previous calls about the measures for the steel segment and the industry in Brazil. We are confident, of course, because these are processes which are very solid from the technical viewpoint as to dumping. This was confirmed in the preliminary decisions that were published by the Ministry. In the case of dumping, you analyze two factors mainly. One is the margin of dumping that was being confirmed by the preliminary evaluation by the technicians of the Ministry, with tariffs above $500 per ton, both for coated and coaled. Another important factor is the impact of the imports of the gain in the local industry.

If all this is confirmed, and if this is confirmed after the preliminary decision where the imports continue to increase, prices continue to be pressurized in the margin of the industry, both the local industry and international industry. This allows us to feel this confidence on the final determination that should come next month. In relation to the deadline, it’s important to clarify the following. As for dumping, there are deadlines for the final determination after each case has been filed. As for the coal area, the opening of the case happened in August 2024. After that date, the maximum deadline for the final decision is February 2026. The Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services has been publishing different schedules according to the capacity for the technicians to analyze each case, considering the technical capacity of the Ministry.

In the last publication, however, the last schedule that was published by the Ministry, the date was November 2025. This is not likely to be completed. Our expectation is that the final documentation will reach the final deadline, which is February 26. As for coated products, it’s going to be 30 days after the coat item case is solved. We expect the final decisions to be made in February and March. As for the hot items, they will continue with the original schedule, and we are going to continue monitoring all the advances. The other question was related to, Leo, the possibility of having more countries involved and the pressure. Of course, we are living a very important commercial war, especially for the manufactured product that comes from the overcapacity that comes from China that is pressurizing not only the Brazilian market, but the European market and global market.

We have seen that commercial measures have been implemented in the United States, in Mexico, in Europe. We should expect that the market should continue being pressurized by this commercial war. It’s very important for us to continue monitoring even after the measures of antidumping. We have to monitor the potential impacts that we can have after the results come in. As mentioned by Miguel Holmes, in our industry, an important percentage of the cost, more than 50% of the ore, and coke, and coal. Yes, there is a formula which is applied to calculate, say, what is the difference of prices that are adopted. When we see the prices, especially the products coming from China, and we can see that the margins are negative, these are not fair competition conditions. This is not fair. It generates a significant imbalance.

At the moment, we have confidence in what Brazil is doing, me and my friends who are part of the board. We have been visiting the authorities of the federal government, and we have also been in talks with the governments of the states, and we are sharing our concern. We see that there is a strong challenge, a strong threat to our industry. When we think about the GDP of the country, an important factor, then when we see this kind of competition, we understand that it affects the employment possibilities. This also affects the qualifications of the jobs in Brazil. There is another question that was asked. If the implementation of the measures could increase the capacity at Usiminas, for example, the beginning of the blast furnace number one. As we mentioned before, we trust the Brazilian authorities.

In the initial speech, we mentioned that there were some measures that I have already mentioned. We understand there is the importance of implementing technical measures, and antidumping is a technical measure. We believe in the capacity for us to have more light in what is happening to the industry. In relation to the added capacity, I would like to say that we have made investments of $600 million in the modernization of blast furnace number three, which is operational. We’re also looking at the efficiency of those furnaces. With blast furnace two and three, we have managed to reach efficiency levels similar to what we had with the three blast furnaces in operation. Today we have idle capacity in all industry. I would say that we are prepared to absorb higher demand.

We are prepared to absorb the unfair competition that we see in the Brazilian market in a very efficient way. Thank you, Marcelo. Miguel? Miguel? We have a session about prices. I’m going to select some questions. First, about pricing in the distribution, and then we can talk about the car makers. This is what we have. What are the transfer prices for distribution? What is Usiminas’ opinion in relation to this transfer? Is there any possibility of higher prices? What’s the expectation of prices in the short term? Miguel, could you answer those? Thank you, Leo. Usiminas increases in the prices spot businesses as of October. The prices, depending on the product, varied from 7% to 4% or 5%, depending on the product. This is a result of the strong pressure from the unfair competition with negative margins.

When we reached this price scenario, the spot pricing was not sustainable to our Brazilian market. That was the reason we felt the need of increasing the prices. We are returning to positive margins to the sector. Obviously, we are going to continue monitoring this possibility of new increases to the future. It’s important to clarify, Leo and everyone, that as we suffered the pressure from the unfair competition, and we also saw a strong drop in the spot prices, an adjustment was very low considering the inflation. So much so that we did not feel this drop in price and in the spot price. We do not expect any increase in the steel sector can impact the IPCA or the inflation rate in Brazil. Thank you, Miguel. I forgot to mention the names of the people, of those who were asking about prices at first.

It was Caio Greiner, UBS, Caio Ribeiro of BOFA, Mares Arisi, Goldman Sachs, Mateus Moreira with Bradesco BPI, and Carlos from Morgan Stanley. Now, continuing for prices in industry, and then we’re going to talk about the automotive sector. Yuri asks about the prices. When are we likely to have a positive impact according to the recent increases? What is the lag between the movement of the industry and movement in distribution? How could we compare those? Thank you, Leo. As we always explain in our call, the dynamics of pricing at the industry are associated with the spot prices. In the industrial sector, depending on the client and the sector, we have bimestral increases, quarterly increases. These are the movements. This is what we can observe in the future.

The adjustments that are being made right now, as of October, in the spot sector are likely to be reflected in when the industry renovated agreements as of January next year, especially in this period. Now about automakers. We have some questions by Caio Greiner, Ricardo Monegal, Glassafra, Igor Guedes, Genial, Lucas Lagnar of XP, and Dana Salsão de Itaú BBA. In case of car makers, as you all know, we have two periods of negotiation. In January, when we update the agreements, we have the periods of January, December, and April, and March. About 30% of car makers in Brazil and those installed in the region have started negotiations at a very preliminary stage. We are not sure when the negotiations are going to be completed that are likely to advance up to December this year.

As for the agreements that update the conditions as of April, they will start negotiations as of January and February next year. We’d like to remind you that the dynamics of agreements are very different from the conditions that we apply in spot prices. In the case of spot prices, Leo, it’s important to clarify that what happened along 26 is 25 is not sustainable. The result of the scenario is the different processes or cases, lawsuits of dumping. We expect that the authorities are going to recognize considering the negative impact on the local industry. Miguel, just a follow-up. Still talking about the automakers, because there’s an additional question. How can an antidumping measure influence the negotiations within the automotive area? No, there’s no influence, as I mentioned before. The dumping scenario is a result of the strong pressure from imports.

In the case of automotive agreements, it’s another logic. We are associated with the competition, but we also have to consider the variable of costs of raw materials. The agreements are maintained in the local currency. Miguel, to end the session about prices, Gabriel Barra with Citi asks the following. In relation to steel prices, could you talk about the carryover of prices of September to understand what will be the carryover for the next quarter? Gabriel, the price of September was the average price in the domestic market, was about 12.5%. That was impacted by the continuous drop that we observed in the spot price and the worst mix of products in September compared to the quarter. Miguel, I have another question for you, now about imports. Dana Salsão with Itaú BBA. How do you see the volume of imported products reaching Brazil in the next months?

The premium versus the imported prices lower for the next months reflected in a lower order for you. Daniel, let’s separate your questions. Your question is very interesting. Of course, the local steel unit reacted to the pressure of the strong imports, and we made adjustments in the spot price in order to protect and to respond to this international pressure. That led to a lower level of imports that we observed in the last 12 months. As I mentioned before, this scenario of domestic prices was not sustainable. On the other side, the steel industry reacted strongly because we would have the possibility of lowering the production. Because of the unfair competition, we have to go to the spot sector and defend the position of the steel industry at the local level. Importers reported and they lowered the volume of imports in the last few months.

We expect the same dynamic to be implemented up to the end of the year. Another factor is that we can see there’s a cooling in different sectors of the economy. This generates lower expectations, and we expect lower volume of imports because of the lower activity expected for the end of the year. Up to the end of the third quarter, we expect importers to lower imports. That generated the drop of imports that we observed in the last months. We are likely to observe a sequential reduction in imports. It’s very relevant to continue advancing with the final measures for the decisions related to dumping so that we can go back to the regular levels after all those unfair competitions that we have been suffering in the past two years. Thank you, Miguel. Now, Marcelo, we have a question about the compact mining.

Marcelo Farina, Caio Greiner asked at what moment we can have the decision, and do we have any updates on the decision? Marcelo, please. Thank you, Leo. As we mentioned before in all previous calls, we continue making headway with the preparation of the engineering that we have clear adjustments in the project. Basically, the process of permitting is within the deadlines. As I mentioned before, in 2026, we will be able to define which would be the next steps. Our next question is directed to Tiago about capital allocation. Caio Greiner, BBS, Gabriel Barra from Citi, he says, "Capital allocation in a favorable scenario of antidumping that will elevate margins and cash generation in the company. How the capital allocation would be changed for the next years?

Would that accelerate the dividends, accelerate investments, or buyback, or payments of dividends?" He says, "What’s the level of leverage that would be ideal for the company?" Tiago, please. Thank you, Leo. Thank you, Caio. It’s a little difficult for us to estimate what’s going to happen in the future, especially in relation to antidumping measures and how this can impact the result and the cash generation of the company. I’m going to limit myself to talking about the present moment. First, it’s in relation to prioritizing investments and payment to shareholders. You can observe that we have a plan, a robust plan of investments that have already been approved that are going to lead to the disbursement of relevant volume of cash. As we announced in the last call, an investment for the coke plant.

We also have the hot repair of the coke plant, and this would amount to more than R$2 billion. Marcelo, you have just mentioned the investment at MUSA. We have a robust pipeline of investment for the future. That doesn’t mean, however, that we do not evaluate the payment for the shareholders. This evaluation will depend on a number of indicators: cash generation, liquidity level, and the investments that we have already planned in the pipeline for the future. In relation to the current situation, we have not made any decision in this regard. We’re still evaluating the possibility of distributing dividends this year. We still haven’t made a definite decision. Of course, we have a proposal that is going to take to the board for approval.

In relation to the leverage level, you have seen that in the last two or three years, we have been maintaining the leverage level below one times the EBITDA. This is a ratio that we feel comfortable to go through stability periods in the market and also going through periods of higher investments. Answering your question, the leverage level is the level that we understand to be a comfortable level so that we can be prepared for those kinds of future situations. Today is below one. Between what we have today and 1.0 to the EBITDA as the leverage level, that would be a comfortable level where we feel safe and comfortable. As to the future, let’s wait and see if anything changes in relation to any improvement in the market situation and how this can be reflected in cash generation.

We are going to continue monitoring the possibility of payment dividends to shareholders, but we are always going to focus on our investments so that we can generate competitiveness for the company in the future. Thank you, Tiago. Still for you, there are many questions here. They’re asking for an explanation about impairment and deferred items. Caio Greiner of IBS and Ricardo Monegal Glassafra, Igor Guedes do Genial, and Morgan Stanley. They ask you to explain the impairment and deferred items. Why higher and why now? Is there any adjustment that we can expect for the future? Is there any impairment impact after the assets have been reviewed? Thank you. As you know, this is an accounting topic where companies have to evaluate the impairment of their assets at a routine frequency. This is an evaluation based on premises: interest rate, foreign exchange rate, demand, raw material prices, etc.

All of those premises are based on the macroeconomic environment in the market at present, and the update of those premises made us register the impairment. There is no change in relation to the quality or the result generation of our assets, but we changed the premises that would change the situation of the market, the macroeconomic situation that were impacted by those evaluations. There are no expectations of a new evaluation in the short term, except if the macroeconomic situation and the market situation changes in a significant manner. Then we could make the evaluation, and that could mean a reversal of this provision. We can revert to the provision that was just being made. This provision was not allocated at any asset specific. This is just a provision without any specific allocation in any assets of the company. Thank you, Tiago. Miguel, a section about demand.

We have questions about Ricardo Monegal Glassafra, Tati Candini from JP Morgan, Lucas Lagnar from XP, and Mateus Moreira with Bradesco BBA. We put the questions together, and this is what we have. We noticed that the domestic market was weaker than the flat steel prices. Usiminas increased 2%. House Brazil presented a 4% growth. Was there any change in the commercial strategy or any rationality from the competitors? The planned demand was dropped, and the industry dropped falling quarter over quarter and year over year. Is there a de-acceleration? As for 2026, what to expect? What sectors presented worse scenarios? Thank you, Leo. Thank you, everyone. Let’s make a comparison of the internal volumes and House of Brazil reports.

It’s important to say that short-term comparisons can lead to bad conclusions because in short terms, we see as a case for Usiminas, we are focused on maintaining our leadership, and we are going to strengthen our leadership in added value, both in products as in as to value. There are different sectors in the industry, and we take part in the commercial sector as well with automakers. We also have to consider the civil construction, and we take part in this less than other steel companies. That can result in different movements of sales when compared to the previous quarter. As for the highlight of the quarter, we can see that there was a 10% increase, and we are likely to be maintaining this recovery. It’s important to mention that the automaker sector is the only sector that still hasn’t recovered the values pre-pandemic periods.

It’s important to maintain this movement, but the automaker is the only one which is still below the value of 2019. The industrial sector, we can mention the machinery for agriculture, and the agriculture sector were at very low levels compared to the previous periods. The quota was very good, and the road machinery had important improvements. These are sectors that we can mention that have had a performance lower than expectations. Another one is the sector of renewable energy. There are other sectors that we have to consider. The other sectors are performing according to the indicators of the economy. Of course, on the one hand, we have a negative impact on consumption. Clients of Usiminas are being impacted by the imports of manufactured products, as we saw from FABIA data. This strong pressure is also being felt by what comes from the imports.

The government has to incentivize policies that can help this area. For 2026, there is an estimate that apparent consumption will increase by 1% for the Brazilian market. Of course, potential additional lower levels of the interest rates and some aspects of the economy could improve the situation. We are going to continue monitoring the interest rates and the consumption capacity in addition to industrial policy that can come from the public area. I don’t know if I missed anything, Leo. Did I forget any question? No, I think you addressed all of them. There is another one. Which are the sectors that had lower performance? I would say that sectors that were impacted in the period were renewable energies that have some important projects that have come to a stop, and they were projects that were very important in the previous year. Miguel, about demand in the international market.

Tati Candini from JP Morgan asks about sales to Argentina. Argentina demand was weaker. Can we go to the levels of the second quarter? Is this what we can expect for the fourth quarter and what we can expect from Argentina and from the external market? What happened in the third quarter is that we were delivering the projects of oil and gas, and they were very strong in the second quarter. The sector of oil and gas continues to be striving, and that could improve the mix in sales in the fourth quarter, especially for new projects of oil and gas in Argentina. The automotive sector continues to present positive results, and we expect to continue this trend up to the end of the year. We could observe a better mix of sales, especially driven by the deliveries of oil and gas projects. Thank you, Miguel.

Tiago, we have a question about cash flow. Ricardo Monegal with Safra asks the following. What’s the perspective of cash flow for the fourth quarter of 2025, considering that working capital is stronger, CapEx is weaker in the third quarter? Yes, Tiago. Ricardo, the expectation for the fourth quarter is still of having some free up in the working capital. We are likely to have a normal variation in the inventory levels, but there is a reduction in receivables accounts because of the volumes of sales that usually happen in the fourth quarter, typically. As for working capital, we are likely to see a good generation, positive generation, and with stable results and with CapEx that should be between $400 million and $500 million in the quarter for us to reach our guidance. We are still likely to see a positive working capital. Cash generation.

We have some questions about cost outlook that were provided in our results release. These are questions from Ricardo Monegal, Igor Guedes with Genial, Gabriel Barras with Citi. We put the questions together, and this is what we have. We expected the best outlook in costs. What were the variables considered? The international reference price of coal and ore reduced, but the COGS reduced. Following the same logics, should those commodities increase the COGS for the fourth quarter of 2025? Lastly, if the magnitude of COGS of the fourth quarter of 2025 would be the same magnitude that we see dropping in the previous quarter? To reinforce what we have already mentioned, we are confident there will be another cost reduction for the fourth quarter, both in the raw material as for the gains in efficiency that we have been observing continuously at a gradual level.

We have been observing this in our operations. It’s always important to clarify that the market indicators of coal, ore, etc., are good indicators of what’s going to happen to our costs. However, they have a little bit different dynamics. They have different turnovers. They would impact our COGS at different moments. The ore has a quicker turnover, so we see the impact in prices impacting COGS. This does not happen to the coal at present, considering that we purchase a relevant volume of coke in the market. The coke index is more relevant than the coal. It takes longer to reach the COGS. To make things even more complicated, we have different types of cokes which are used in production at different times. Market indicator would be a good reference.

However, obviously, since we know what we have in our inventories and what’s being used in the production, we can have a clearer view of what’s going to happen to the COGS. Again, there’s an expectation of a cost reduction in the next quarter. In relation to the magnitude, if it’s going to be similar as to the reduction that we saw in this quarter, which was 3%, it’s hard to say. I would say that it would be something lower than that, but still, that would depend on what’s about to happen along the quarter. Tiago? Now, the question is about mining costs. Yuri Pereira with Santander and Mateus Moreira with Bradesco, they ask the following. Could you provide us more details about the high costs in mining unit? Do you have an outlook for this line for the fourth quarter? Basically, this is the question. Okay.

The increase in the mining cost came as a result of the international freight costs. The sales that we make in the mining unit with the freight already included in cost would impact the amount and the revenue. With the increase in the tariff, we noticed this increase in the COGS. There was also a one-off increase in the material handling service. This is not likely to happen, but we see that there’s a high tariff of an international freight. This is likely to repeat in the next quarter, and that would lead us to a cost at the same level or at a similar level than what we saw in the third quarter when we compared the two quarters for at MUSA. We still have three questions. We’re moving towards the end of our call. The first one is about, it’s to Marcelo.

Yuri Pereira asks about mining, our friable reserves. What’s the strategy to maintain the feed of the furnaces? Does it make sense that we are going to purchase from the local market? Yes, Marcelo. In the past two years, as we have been mentioning, our main focus has been in the development of operational excellence in all segments where we operate at Usiminas. We integrated MUSA with the steel production and optimizing the activities. We have this reserve of friables that we didn’t use to have in the past. We are making some mixes in order to expand this. We have been able to develop alternatives at MUSA that would allow us to extend the life of the friable items. We have also been evaluating options that would allow us to use the sintering machines that we have in Ipatinga.

We have incorporated a higher content of fines that would make us able to use or to use the reserves that we have. I would say that we are optimistic when we think about optimizing this. Depending on the definitions that we define in the compact projects, we are going to have synergies that will allow us to use those reserves so that we can use for the feeding of the furnaces. I would say that we have a good planning going on. We have good perspectives for the next years in relation to the supply of ore. Thank you, Marcelo. Now, we have a question about working capital from Igor Guedes, Genial, Tati Candini. The driver of cash generation was the working capital. Is there a space for further reductions? Igor asked the following. The level of working capital was higher than we expected.

There was a reduction in the forfeit and the accounts payable. Is it possible to see the current level of current payables? Was it a negotiation so that we could extend the supplier deadlines with the suppliers? The first question, I think I have already answered. In relation to the inventory levels, the turnover of the inventories are normalized. What we are likely to see in the future are regular variations. Obviously, it’s going to depend on the production level at which we are operating. We expect to reduce the accounts receivables for the next quarter. In relation to the second question, I don’t know if I understood well, but usually, when we have a strong reduction in the inventory levels, this also means a reduction of the suppliers since you are requiring fewer raw materials. This is a natural fact.

We had a reduction of about $1.1 billion in the inventory accounts, and we had a reduction in the suppliers’ accounts. The match was about $500 million, if I’m not mistaken. This is just a natural movement. There was no different negotiation going on. If we had negotiated an extended deadline, we wouldn’t have the reduction in the supplier account, but it would increase. There was no regular impact, a big impact in the negotiation with the suppliers. This was a natural impact since we reduced the inventory levels. Thank you, Tiago. Let’s move on to our last section, which are some questions about the operation. They come from Gabriel Barra, Mats Farid, Goda Sags, Marcelo Arisio, and Vitigi. Marcelo, people ask the following. Could you make some comments about the status of the new PCI plant? What are the expectations in terms of cost improvement coming from this project?

How the blast furnace three has been running? Is there a space for improvement? We expect a stable EBITDA considering the efforts that the company has been making. What has the company been making along those lines? I will start with the first question. Investments are according to the plan. In the beginning of 2026, we are going to start the operating tests. In the first half of the year, we are going to be in the right of regimen. We are going to improve the efficiency of fuels and reducing the coke fuel use. There is going to be a significant improvement in costs in addition to reducing the emissions of GHG.

In general lines, and making a summary of the questions asked, it’s important to mention that we have been developing along the two years important projects to complement the $600 million that we have invested in the blast furnaces in such a way that the lines that feed the blast furnaces have been receiving important reinforcements in terms of OpEx and in important works of improvement, making it possible to change the metal grade of the furnaces. We have been reducing the load of costs, and we have already been capitalizing those effects. We have been making a lot of efforts on this focus, especially on the environmental areas so that we can reduce the particle emissions and reduce them by more than 90% of all those events whenever we had any potential for a reduction. Another aspect which is very important is the coal and coke mix.

This is directly connected to the working capital. We developed a special team to control our inventories and all the supply system. We have been able to simplify the number of suppliers as well as the quality of those suppliers. We made evaluation, and we made a reduction of the inventories, and we also improved the operational performance of the use of this raw material. Another important topic is related to the battery, which is advancing according to the plan. We have good expectations about this plan since we have reconfigured and we have been noticing an improvement in the execution of the project since we have an expertise in execution that allows us to execute this plan in a more efficient way. Together, we have another project complementary, which is the gasometer that will also improve the process.

We have also made important OpEx and CapEx investments to promote improvement in the utilities of the company. We have reduced the natural gas consumption. We have been making other improvements in the utilities. Now, to make the proper monitoring of the costs. As we mentioned previously, in all the previous calls of the previous quarters, this is a process that has already been installed at Usinas Siderúrgicas de Minas Gerais S.A. (Usiminas), and it’s been successful. We have a strongly focused and engaged team. One of our main shareholders has been helping us so much in those areas, and thanks to this, we are confident that this improvement process will continue. This will continue at a systemic level. All the changes are going to be sustainable and progressive. Thank you, Marcelo. We would like to thank you so much for your participation.

We would like to remind you that if you have any questions, our IR team is available to take any questions you might have. Thank you very much. Have a nice day, everyone.

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