Porto Sudeste tries to prevent purchase of Ferrous by Vale

Porto Sudeste, a private port exclusively designed for the loading of solid bulk (iron ore) located on Madeira Island, Itaguaí (RJ), has informed antitrust regulator, Cade, that the purchase of Ferrous Resources Limited by Vale, if approved, will enable Vale to control more than 80% of the iron ore market in Brazil.

The company presented data from the National Mining Agency (ANM) indicating that Vale was responsible for 79.17% of production in Brazil in 2017, at 366.5m tons. In 2018, this volume rose to 384.6m tons, surpassing 80%.

According to Porto Sudeste, Vale was set to produce more than 400m tons this year, but after the rupture of the Córrego do Feijão Dam in Brumadinho (MG) in January, production is expected to be between 307m and 332m tons in 2019.

Vale claims that most of these products, such as sinter feed and pellet feed, are destined for exports to other countries and, therefore, the purchase of Ferrous would not affect trade in Brazil.

According to Vale, the company has between 10% and 20% of the Brazilian iron ore market, while Ferrous has less than 5%. In the pellet feed market, Vale’s share is less than 5% and Ferrous’s share of production only started this year.

There is still no date for Cade to give a final position on the deal.

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