The desire to undertake in Brazil, no matter how difficult the scenario, takes resilient people from scratch to the top. This is the case of Açotubo, a company that was born as a small workshop in the interior of the country. Currently, it is one of the largest distributors of steel products in the country.
According to the executive, the company turned 51 in February, and was founded by his family that, in the early years, was forced to leave Paraná to Sao Paulo due to a strong frost that rocked the region’s coffee plantations in the early 1970s.
“They were coffee farmers and came here and did everything before entering the steel.”
Bruno BassiYes Açotubo, participated in the last episode of the program From zero to topwith the presentation of MARIANA AMARO.
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After facing climate and financial adversities, the family decided to try their luck in the state capital, initially settled in the East Zone. With no money and with many challenges, the brothers were divided into various work, such as commerce and free markets, until one of the uncles began to act as Office Boy in a steel industry. From there, the idea of creating one’s own business began to take shape.
Açotubo: Hand in the dough
Açotubo’s first headquarters was installed in Vila Maria, northern São Paulo, on a rented land of only 200 square meters. With no resources to invest in infrastructure, the founders were dedicated to literally getting their hands dirty.
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“My older uncle tells a lot the story that he himself made the shelves to put the steel, dug a hole to put the machine down and roll the bars through the floor, saving to the fullest,” he recalls.
Today, Açotubo has about a thousand employees and eight branches throughout Brazil, selling both carbon steel and stainless steel. The company has consolidated itself as a reference in the sector, maintaining the entrepreneurial spirit and philosophy of economy and efficiency that marked its beginning.
In line processing
After registering a record revenues of R $ 2.4 billion in 2022, driven by rise in steel prices during the pandemic, Açotubo closed 2024 with a revenue of approximately R $ 1.9 billion. Despite the fall in financial value, the company’s processing volume continued to rise, reaching about 120,000 tons per year.
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The CEO points out that the reduction in revenues is directly linked to the oscillation in the price of steel, which impacts the entire distribution chain.
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“We continue with the volume growing, but revenues do not follow exactly that because of the price of steel. As a distributor, we ended up having to adjust the value at the end according to the replacement price, following the practices of the plants ”
The company maintains two units abroad, one in Colombia and one in Peru, specialized in the production of anchor systems, under the Incotep brand. Even with the challenging scenario, Açotubo remains firm in the strategy of capillarizing its performance in the national market and serving both large multinational and small consumers that buy bars and tubes directly at the company’s units.
Asian competition
The year 2024 was especially complicated for the Brazilian steel industry due to the increase in Asian competition. The arrival of imported products, especially from countries such as China, pressured prices down and generated a competition considered unfair through the domestic market.
The government even imposed some quotas to curb the entry of these products, but, according to Bassi, the effects have not yet been enough to balance the situation.
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Trump rates
Another factor that influences the market is the tariff policy of the United States. The imposition of a tariff on the Trump government’s steel also indirectly impacts Brazilian industry, as Asians seek new markets to drain the production surplus.
Even in the face of challenges, Açotubo continues to bet on proximity to the customer and in large -scale distribution as pillars to maintain its relevance in the market.
“We understand that the role of the distributor is to capillarize and serve companies of all sizes. This is part of our essence and we will continue to follow this path, ”he says.
About zero to the top
In more than 200 episodes, Videocast/Business Podcast from scratch tells the story of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs behind the largest companies in the country.
In each episode, Zat brings a founder or founder in a frank conversation about how he started business, the challenges faced over the years, uncertainties and decisive moments for the company.
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