Impacted by the variation in the prices of asphalt products and the scarcity, the construction industry says that, until the beginning of the year, the sector imported between 10 and 20 thousand tons of bitumen a month from Russia, but the war hampered the flow and companies passed to depend exclusively on Petrobras.
It is estimated that about 10% of the market is supplied with imported products.
“The solution is to import, but there is no channel for importing safe asphalt to meet this demand. With the war, transport became very expensive. We are managing to work with what we have here, but when the big works start we will have problems”, says Bibiano Ferraz, president of Abimpa (Association of Importers and Exporters of Asphalt Products).
According to the CBIC (Brazilian Chamber of the Construction Industry), companies are able to buy asphalt, however, distributors are demanding payment in cash.
In the last 12 months, there was an increase of 40.67% in these items, according to the CBIC.
Companies still have to deal with production adjustments. On Friday (22), the PaulÃnia refinery warned that it would make a technical adjustment, which could mean interruption of one or two days.
According to the technical manager of Sinicesp (São Paulo State Heavy Construction Industry Union), Carlos Prado, production should resume this Tuesday, but it was extended to Wednesday.
Joana Cunha with Paulo Ricardo Martins and Gilmara Santos
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