Chilean steel service center Cintac delivered 304,000 mt of products in 2017, up 8.2% from 281,000 mt a year earlier, the unit of integrated steel group CAP said Monday.
Cintac posted a net profit of $15.66 million, up from $13.65 million in 2015, a 14.7% rise.
Operational costs in 2017 were $35.3 million, 19.4% higher than the year before, mainly because of higher raw materials prices and a mix of products sold.
The service center saw net sales increase 15.3% to $266.69 million in 2016 from $231.31 million in 2016, mainly due to higher shipments (8.2%) and higher average selling price (6.3%).
"The increase is mainly due to the increase in sales prices by 6.3% compared to the same period of the previous year, due to the increase in the cost of raw material, a mix of products sold and a better current exchange rate," Cintac said.
By sector, sales increased 18.9% in construction and increased 17.8% in industry, but decreased in infrastructure, down 20.3%.
Sales of raw materials -- flat steel used for processing into value-added products -- and by-products increased 9.3%.
The company's inventory rotation increased to 3.6 at the end of 2017 from 2.67 at the end of 2016, with the time that products were held in inventory before being sold at 100 days in 2017, compared with 135 days at the end of 2016.
The company operates four processing plants: Cintac SAIC (175,000 mt/year), Instapanel (45,000 mt/year), Centroacero (100,000 mt/year) and Peruvian unit Tupemesa (35,000 mt/year).
The service center supplies tubes, profiles and diversified structural products primarily processed from sheet and coil.
