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In April this year, Brazilian crude steel production totaled 2.71 million metric tons, reflecting a decrease of 4.28 percent compared to March and a 56.6 percent increase from April 2009, according to the Brazil Steel Institute (IABr).
 
Brazil's rolled steel product output totaled 2.169 million mt in April, decreasing by 2.22 percent month on month and up 47 percent year on year. Of this total, the country's flat steel output stood at 1.27 million mt - down four percent over March and up 50.9 percent year on year, while its long steel output amounted to 886,600 metric tons, rising slightly by 0.44 percent month on month and up 41.7 percent compared to April 2009.
 
On the other hand, in the first four months of this year, Brazil's crude steel output rose 58.6 percent, reaching 10.67 million metric tons, while its rolled steel output increased by 70.6 percent to 8.43 million metric tons, including 5.04 million metric tons of flat products - up 84.8 percent and 3.38 million metric tons of long products - up 53.2 percent, all compared to the corresponding period of 2009.
 
Domestic sales totaled 1.78 million metric tons in April, down 3.93 percent from March and up 48.3 percent from the same month last year. Sales in the first four months totaled 6.82 million metric tons, increasing by 58.2 percent compared to the same period last year.
 
Exports of steel products in April amounted to 787,200 metric tons - up 20.5 percent year on year, worth US$442.8 million. Exports in the first four months of this year totaled 2.82 million mt, worth US$1.6 billion, with increases of 34 percent in volume and 16 percent in value compared to the corresponding period of 2009.
 
Meanwhile, the country's steel import volume in April totaled 500,000 metric tons (US$432.7 million), with the first four months' total of 1.82 million metric tons of steel products (US$1.57 billion), representing a 155.7 percent increase from the same period last year.