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In July this year, Brazilian crude steel production totaled 2.85 million metric tons, remaining almost unchanged as compared to June and up by 14.3 percent from July 2009, according to the Brazil Steel Institute (IABr).
 
Brazil's rolled steel product output totaled 2.45 million mt in July, rising by 4.76 percent month on month and up 28.6 percent year on year. Of this total, the country's flat steel output stood at 1.46 million mt - up three percent over June and up 26.1 percent year on year, while its long steel output amounted to 988,100 metric tons, surging by 7.3 percent month on month and up 32.4 percent compared to July 2009.
 
On the other hand, in the first seven months of this year, Brazil's crude steel output rose 47.3 percent, reaching 19.23 million metric tons, while its rolled steel output increased by 53.7 percent to 15.55 million metric tons, including 9.33 million metric tons of flat products - up 62.4 percent, and 6.22 million metric tons of long products - up 42.2 percent, all compared to the corresponding period of 2009.
 
Domestic sales totaled 1.87 million metric tons in July, up 31.3 percent from the same month last year, while sales in the first seven months totaled 12.69 million metric tons, increasing by 52.3 percent compared to the same period last year.
 
Exports of steel products in July amounted to 566,500 metric tons - down 27.4 percent year on year, worth US$414.6 million. Exports in the January-July period of this year totaled 4.82 million mt, worth US$2.94 billion, with increases of 15.5 percent in volume and 22.5 percent in value compared to the corresponding period of 2009.
 
Meanwhile, the country's steel import volume in July totaled 532,800 metric tons (US$494.8 million), with the first seven months' total reaching 3.26 million metric tons of steel products (US$2.9 billion), representing a 152.2 percent increase from the same period last year.