Strategically located in the state of Espírito Santo on the southeastern coastline of Brazil, CST is a steel producer that specializes in the production and sale of high quality semi-finished steels - slabs and hot-rolled coil - for a wide variety of applications.
      Completing its 20th year of operations in 2003, CST has achieved a position of growing leadership in its segment, with a solid presence in the global slab market and an emerging share of the domestic hot-coil market, into which it entered just over a year ago.
      Slab is an input material used mainly by other steel makers. Hot coil, a downstream product of slab processing, has direct applications, or may be used for further downstream production of cold-rolled and galvanized steels, which have applications in products such as: automobiles and auto parts, tubes, fuel ducts, appliances, electronics and packaging. There are also numerous applications for the naval and construction sectors.
      CST’s annual production volume of semi-finished steels is approximately 5 million tons. It has had diversified production since the end of 2002, with slabs accounting for 3 million tons and hot-coil for 2 million tons of its output.
      It is the third largest steel producer in Brazil (in 2003), representing 15% of the country’s total production. It is also among Brazil’s 10 largest exporters, and one of the leading contributors to the country’s trade balance. Since the start-up of its operations, CST has sold over 66 million tons of steel slabs, of which 92% was exported to a portfolio of approximately 60 customers in 18 countries across all continents.
      The plant occupies 7 million m² of a total area of 13.5 million m² located on the border between the cities

of Vitória and Serra. The Company is well served by a road and rail network as well as a port complex with shipping operations channeled through the Praia Mole Port. This infrastructure enables efficient receipt and handling of raw materials – mainly iron ore and coking coal - as well as facilitating the shipment of the Company’s products.
      CST was created in 1974 as a state-owned company, later privatized in 1992. Over the past 10 years (1993-2003), more than US$ 1.9 billion have been invested in technological upgrading, capacity expansion, enhancing the value-added nature of the product mix (higher value-added steels), production diversification, as well as operating and environmental improvements.
      Consolidating its position as one of the main players in the Brazilian market, CST is undertaking a sustained expansion program, which will raise annual production capacity to 7.5 million tons of slabs by mid-2006. The program will entail investments of US$ 1 billion, of which US$ 600 million will come from CST. With the new production base, the Company will continue to run its hot-coil plant in full production while at the same time recovering its traditional level of slab offering to the global market.
      The expansion is a product of CST’s strategic vision, which leverages the Company’s growth to extend its leadership as the preferred supplier of quality, semi-finished products to the global steel industry.
      CST’s sustainability through its transformation is ensured by a management model based on increasing returns for shareholders with benefits for the community as a whole, achieving a balance between, economic, social and environmental aspects in line with sustainable development principles.