Sao Paulo (Platts)--4Feb2013/409 pm EST/2109 GMT

Stainless and electrical steels producer Aperam South America on Monday said its fourth-quarter shipments were largely unchanged from the third quarter at 151,000 mt, largely because of a "seasonal slowdown."

The Luxembourg-based company's South American unit's shipments represented 37.7% of Aperam's total volume of 400,000 mt in Q4. South American shipments reached 617,000 mt in 2012, 4.6% below 2011.

EBITDA from South America fell from $26 million in the Q3 to $24 million in Q4, the company said.

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Aperam said it expects to increase its South American unit's market share in Brazil this year, as the government increased import tariffs to 25% in October 2012 and the company is still working on anti-dumping duties with the domestic authorities.

Aperam, the only domestic producer of stainless steel in Brazil, has a roughly 65% market share in the country.

The current size of the Brazilian stainless market is 400,000 mt/year, which is expected to increase by 3-4% in 2013.

--Adriana Carvalho, adriana_carvalho@platts.com --Edited by Jeff Barber, jeff_barber@platts.com

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