Sales plunged and losses grew at Brazilian iron ore and pig iron producer MMX as the downturn in the comopany's domestic market hit the raw materials producer.

 

First-quarter revenues of R$92 million ($44 million) were off 38% from R$148.6 million in Q1 and dropped 47% from R$172.3 million in Q4 2008. Its net loss widened to R$148.3 million from R$21.5 million in Q1 2008 but was far narrower than the loss of R$507.2 million in Q4 2008.

 

Volumes were off significantly. Iron ore sales of 562,000 mt were almost half of the 1.038 million mt sold in Q1 2008 and were down 27% sequentially from the 772,000 mt sold in Q4 2008. The company said its business was hit particularly hard by the downturn in the Brazilian steel industry, which accounts for roughly three-fourths of MMX's sales.

 

Pig iron sales totaled 72,000 mt, all of which was produced in 2008. The company sold no pig iron in Q4 2008 but sold 62,000 mt in Q1 2008. MMX is currently not making pig iron due to a lack of demand in world markets and has no schedule to resume production. "Resumption of production is conditioned on a recovery in the outlook for the steel industry in Brazil and worldwide," the company said in a statement. –Platts