Brazilian
production of crude steel in February 2009 was 1.7 million metric tons (mt), representing an increase of 2.3 percent compared to January yet a decline of 42.4 percent compared to February 2008, according to a report issued by the Instituto Brasileiro de Siderurgia (IBS) Tuesday.
The report further states that flat rolled coil
production in February 2009 was 1.1 million mt, representing a growth of 11 percent over the previous month. However, compared to the same period in 2008,
production during the first two months of 2009, totaling 3.3 million mt of crude steel and 2.2 million mt of rolled products, show a decline of 42.4 percent and 49.7 percent, respectively.
Brazil's apparent
consumption of steel products in February was 1.1 million mt and was 2.3 million mt in the first two months of the year. This figure represents a decline of 43.6 percent over the same two-month period of last year..
As for domestic sales, the result of February 2009 was 958,000 mt of products, showing growth of 0.8 percent over the previous month, yet compared with the same period of 2008, February 2009 domestic sales decreased 47.2 percent.
Exports of steel products in February 2009 reached 474,000 mt of goods valued at US$278 million. The export volume was 8.2 percent greater than in January, but compared with the volume of exports in the same month of the previous year, a decrease of 45.6 percent was recorded in February 2009.
With regard to imports, February records a volume of 160,000 mt, valued at US$267 million, and a total of 411,000 mt in the first two months.