[ferro-alloys.com]Brazilian independent flat steel distributors and service centers have been notified of a 5% price hike for purchases from Usiminas and CSN, effective October 1, Carlos Loureiro, president at the sector's association Inda, said Tuesday.

"With the iron ore and coke prices increasing outside Brazil, there is space for higher [flat steel] prices in the domestic market," Loureiro added, citing Usiminas and CSN already informing customers about a new price list.

This is the fifth hike announced by Brazilian flats makers in 2018 for the distribution and industrial sectors.

Long-term contract prices with automakers were raised by 20% in January and are expected to increase 25%-30% until January 2019, Loureiro explained.

According to Inda data, distributors and service centers shipped 299,200 mt of flat products in August, a 0.8% decrease on the year. Compared to July, shipments increased 8.4%.

"We had higher shipments on a monthly basis mainly due to restocking by end users aware of the price increases announced by mills," Inda's President Carlos Loureiro said.

Purchases from mills by distributors in August reached 300,100 mt, up 8.4% from year-ago levels, the data showed.

Imports closed August totaling 99,300 mt, a 14.7% decrease when compared to the year-ago month.

Inventories totaled 919,900 mt, up 0.1% from July, while average inventory turnover rose to 3.1 months of supply.

Inda expects August shipments and purchases to decrease 10% compared to August's level, it said.

"There is a great level of uncertainty about how the market would turn out at the end of the year, with the elections in October," Loureiro added. "Each candidate represents a different scenario. We need to wait just a little longer to see what's going to happen."

• [Editor:王可]