Resumen de Magnesita keenly waits on graphite, talc, projects

Siobhan Lismore-Scott, Laura Syrett

• [Octavio Cortes Pereira Lopes] also admitted that the company, which sells refractory products to steel and cement manufacturers globally, was facing a "worse backdrop" in the Brazilian refractories market than had originally been forecast, but said that, on the flip side, demand from the European steel industry was exceeding expectations.

  "In the first quarter of 2014, the macroeconomic environment continued to perform poorly. In Brazil, confidence indicators have worsened with low growth, inflationary pressures, rising interest rates and the risk of energy rationing. According to the Central Bank's Focus survey, Brazil's GDP is expected to grow no more than 1.65% this year," he said.

  Overall, the volume of refractories Magnesita sold in Q1 2014 reached 214,000 tonnes, 5.3% higher than Q1 2013, "despite a 0.4% decrease in steel production in South America and meagre 0.8% growth in North America," the company outlined.