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In June this year, Brazilian crude steel production totaled 2.85 million metric tons, remaining almost unchanged as compared to May and up by 46.8 percent from June 2009, according to the Brazil Steel Institute (IABr).
 
Brazil's rolled steel product output totaled 2.33 million mt in June, rising by 1.66 percent month on month and up 40.3 percent year on year. Of this total, the country's flat steel output stood at 1.41 million mt - up 2.91 percent over May and up 49.2 percent year on year, while its long steel output amounted to 920,600 metric tons, dropping by 0.23 percent month on month and up 28.7 percent compared to June 2009.
 
On the other hand, in the first half of this year, Brazil's crude steel output rose 55 percent, reaching 16.38 million metric tons, while its rolled steel output increased by 59.5 percent to 13.1 million metric tons, including 7.88 million metric tons of flat products - up 71.5 percent, and 5.23 million metric tons of long products - up 44.2 percent, all compared to the corresponding period of 2009.
 
Domestic sales totaled 1.99 million metric tons in June, up 1.02 percent from May and up 52.4 percent from the same month last year. Sales in the first six months totaled 10.82 million metric tons, increasing by 56.6 percent compared to the same period last year.
 
Exports of steel products in June amounted to 782,100 metric tons - up 12 percent year on year, worth US$505.4 million. Exports in the first half of this year totaled 4.25 million mt, worth US$2.52 billion, with increases of 25.4 percent in volume and 24.9 percent in value compared to the corresponding period of 2009.
 
Meanwhile, the country's steel import volume in June totaled 419,500 metric tons (US$397.5 million), with the first six months' total reaching 2.73 million metric tons of steel products (US$2.4 billion), representing a 148.3 percent increase from the same period last year.