Brazil's steel distributors association, Inda, has disclosed that its members' steel sales fell 0.3 percent year on year to 347,800 mt in June this year, decreasing by six percent compared to May. In the January-June period of the current year, steel sales of Brazilian distributors decreased by 1.7 percent on year-on-year basis to 2.14 million mt.
Distributors' steel stocks stood at around 1.1 million mt at the end of June, increasing 13.3 percent from a year earlier and unchanged compared to the end of May this year.
Meanwhile, Inda's distributors purchased 390,000 mt of steel from steel producers in June, an increase of 21.5 percent from a year earlier and down 5.7 percent month on month. In the January-June period of the current year, Brazilian distributors' purchase volumes were 6.9 percent higher than in the same period of the previous year, totaling 2.3 million mt.
Inda said it projects a five percent decline in sales and purchases in July this year as compared to June levels.