According to the Brazil Steel Institute (IABr), Brazilian crude steel production in the January-October period this year amounted to 28.61 million metric tons, 0.7 percent lower year on year. In the same period, Brazilian rolled steel output decreased by five percent to 20.92 million metric tons, including 11.88 million metric tons of flat products - down 4.9 percent, and 9.03 million metric tons of long products - down 5.2 percent, all on year-on-year basis.
Meanwhile, Brazilian steelmakers produced 3.05 million metric tons of crude steel in October of the current year, up 2.7 percent year on year. Brazil's rolled steel product output totaled 2.14 million mt in October, down 6.5 percent year on year. Of this total, the country's flat steel output stood at 1.22 million mt, down 5.9 percent year on year, while Brazil's long steel output amounted to 987,500 metric tons, down 7.4 percent compared to October 2013.
Brazilian domestic steel sales decreased by 10.3 percent year on year in October this year to 1.75 million metric tons, while domestic sales in the first 10 months totaled 17.32 million metric tons, decreasing by eight percent year on year.
Brazil's exports of steel products in October amounted to 1.05 million metric tons, rising by 39.4 percent, and were worth US$665.4 million, up 30.1 percent, both compared to October 2013. Steel product exports in the first 10 months of the current year totaled 7.8 million mt, worth US$5.53 billion, with an increase of 13.6 percent in volume and a rise of 17.6 percent in value compared to the corresponding period of 2013.
Meanwhile, the country's steel import volume in October decreased by 19.2 percent year on year to 334,200 metric tons (US$345 million), while total steel imports in the first 10 months amounted to 3.47 million metric tons (US$3.57 billion), representing a 9.3 percent increase in volume from the same period last year.