YTD handling at Ceará EPZ exceeds 5 mi tons

In May, the Ceará Export Processing Zone (EPZ), the only one currently in operation in Brazil, exceeded the mark of 5 million tons of cargo handled in 2021. In all, 5,135,509 tons passed through the company’s gates in the first five months of this year, an increase of 15.3% compared to the same period in 2020.

In May, 995,755 tons were handled in the Ceará EPZ, an increase of 25.1% compared to the same month last year. Of this amount, 235,134 tons of steel slabs produced by Companhia Siderúrgica do Pecém (CSP) were handled, an increase of 18.2% compared to the number registered in May 2020.  Steel slabs are the main product processed at Ceará EPZ.

In addition to steel slabs, Ceará EPZ also showed an increase in iron ore and mineral coal handling,  inputs that reach the company via Porto do Pecém and are used by the companies installed for local production. In the case of iron ore, 340,365 tons were handled in May, an increase of 45.8% compared to the same month in 2020; and 217,224 tons of coal was handled, an increase of 19.4% in the same period.

In the first five months of 2021, the Ceará EPZ has already handled 1.14 million tons of steel slabs, as well as 1.89 million tons of iron ore and another 969,000 tons of mineral coal, totaling more than 4 million tons only among these three main cargoes.

See below the cargo handling at Porto do Pecém, where the ZPE Ceará is located:

Cargo Handling at the Port of Pecém | Jan to Dec 2020-2021 | WTMT

Exports and Imports at Ceará EPZ

Among the main destinations for goods produced by the Ceará EPZ in 2021, the United States was the primary destination, importing 586,609 tons. In the same period, Canada imported 69,749 tons and Belgium imported 22,609 tons. Total exports in 2021 reached 678,968 tons.

The main countries exporting to Brazil this year are the United States, with 741,537 tons, Russia, with 307,968 tons, and South Korea, with 6,233 tons. In all, 1,060,164 tons arrived from other countries to be processed in the Ceará EPZ.