Gradually, and between ups and downs, Vale () shares recovering from the 23% fall that took in 2024, the largest since 2016. With valuing of almost 6% this year, the company has eliminated some noise that weighed more about market confidence than its results itself. This includes from Mariana and Brumadinho’s tragedies to the government’s attempts to get a mining president. The company, and the accompanying analysts,
“Several risks that investors listed no longer exist. It is not up to us, as company managers, to tell if the price price is good or bad. […] At this level [de preço]we, because we think it is a good investment for the company, ”said Marcelo Bacci, the company’s financial and investor relations, in the first episode of Infoomoney Interview.
The series of exclusive interviews with names of great relevance He received the executive, who took over the Vale CFO chair last December. With prior experience in another global company, Bacci was Suzano’s financial vice president, where he worked for over 10 years. Her mandate in the mining company includes recovering the company’s competitiveness, reducing costs and better volumes – indicators that advanced.
“The company [também] You need to go to another level in terms of your relationships [com stakeholders] And work more and more in your reputation, which is an important theme, ”said the executive.
Commitments related to the repairs of Mariana and Brumadinho’s tragedies should still represent relevant net cash exits for the company in this and next year. “It falls over the next few, but it still remains there for a while,” explained Bacci.
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Recently, the agreement between VALE, SAMARCO, BHP and the public power, providing for payment of R $ 170 billion In repairs related to the breach of the Fundão dam in Mariana ,.
“This, of course, takes some predictability for us, but it takes it to them [os municípios que não aderiram] also. I think it is a risk that these mayors take when giving up relevant values that were contemplated by this agreement, discussed with the federal government and the Supreme [STF]to try some other mechanism that may or may not work for them, ”said the CFO.
“For us, it will not mean great variations regarding the disbursement we will make,” adds the executive.
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Bacci also talked about the most friendly relationships with the government – he said that Vale and the public power already agree on “90% of the themes” and the focus will be on what is convergent.
“The licensing issue is technical, but it also requires a joint view, a North. This recovery of relationship with the state will bring benefits to everyone, to Vale, to Brazil,” says the CFO.
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Check it out, below, excerpts from Infoomoney Interview e .
Infoomoney: Vale has achieved a two -digit reduction in costs in the fourth quarter of last year. Is it possible to maintain this discipline over 2025? What are the challenges?
Marcelo Bacci: We have a cost reduction trajectory that intensified during the year 2024 and will continue in 2025. Part of this reduction comes from the gradual increase in volumes that we have been doing, which dilutes fixed cost, and also comes from the entry into operation of some new operations, which have lower cost. […] Vale’s activity benefits a lot when you have a more stable operation, this reduces cost, reduces risk. Challenges have to do a lot with issues, for example, inflation, as many companies are subjected as well. It has climate issues as well. We had a first trimester now, for example, which had a lot of rain. This hinders shipments. But they are things in the nature of our business that we will be able to manage.
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Infomoney: Vale produced 328 million tons of iron ore by 2024. The goal for 2025 is to reach up to 335 million, but flexibly. How will this be operationalized?
Marcelo Bacci: Until 2023, what the company could sell was due to what was produced. Today, the company has a pace of production that allows flexibility. What determines whether we will sell more or less is the pricing of different mix, market conditions, not production. Therefore we are able to produce even more. We chose if we will do more or less due to the return to the company. We are the mining company that has the best quality portfolio in terms of iron content in the ore. This has to be used in our favor.
Infomoney: What to expect from global demand for iron ore this year with the commercial tariffs that the United States are imposing on China [principal comprador da Vale]?
Marcelo Bacci: The demand for ore is very stable. China is at a much smaller growth level today, but you have other regions that are growing and taking this place a little, stored the proper proportions, and helping to stabilize the market. India, Middle East, Southeast Asia, are all smaller, but in the whole they will start to grow a little compensation for this eventual fall of China. And you have on the offer side some large projects that have not yet entered operation, but when that happens, they will be offset by exhausting existing mines. It is due to this balance that the price has not varied so much. Obviously we will continue to monitor [as tarifas impostas pelos Estados Unidos]but we see the world in balance regarding iron ore consumption.
IM: Vale has announced an action repurchase program that must be calibrated according to the company’s debt. How will this work in practice?
MB: The repurchase program will exist, it equals about 3% of the company’s capital, and is in force. This is not to say that we have an obligation to repurchase every day, we will choose the right moments and do so based on what we are observing in the market, the liquidity of the stocks and the expanded net debt [dívida financeira mais recursos destinados às reparações]. A generation of positive cash will bring our debt to a lower level, make room to allocate capital, and today with the price of Vale where it is, it is a capital allocation to buy its own shares. We are quite convinced that this will generate a lot of value to the company.
IM: By the time Vale tries to resume the position of global leadership, competing mining companies study expanding operations in Brazil. How do you see this?
MB: We see with tranquility. We have a level of local knowledge of Brazil and immersion in the Brazilian reality very deep, so no one knows the country in mining more than Vale. Competitors will come, we will dispute situations with them, aware of our skills and that it will not at all disturb the development of the company within the plans we have in the long run.
