According to the Brazil Steel Institute (IABr), Brazilian steelmakers produced 3 million metric tons (mt) of crude steel in April of the current year, reflecting a 1.6 percent decline from April 2012, but up 2.45 percent compared to March this year. Brazil's rolled steel product output totaled 2.2 million mt in April, rising by 0.5 percent month on month and up 3.3 percent year on year. Of this total, the country's flat steel output stood at 1.26 million mt - falling 1.5 percent from March and up 4.1 percent year on year, while Brazil's long steel output amounted to 960,900 metric tons, rising by 3.2 percent month on month and up 2.3 percent compared to April 2012.
Meanwhile, year-to-date production through April 2013 was 11.3 million tons, 3.6 percent lower than the first four months of 2012. In the first four months this year, Brazilian rolled steel output decreased slightly by 0.3 percent to 8.4 million metric tons, including 4.9 million metric tons of flat products - up 1.8 percent, and 3.5 million metric tons of long products - down 2.6 percent, all compared to the corresponding period of 2012.
Brazilian steel sales domestically rose 6.2 percent in April comparing to April 2012, totaling 1.9 million metric tons, while domestic sales in the first four months totaled 7.3 million metric tons, increasing by 2.3 percent compared to the same period last year.
Brazil's exports of steel products in April amounted to 817,400 metric tons, falling by 1.1 percent, worth US$540 million, down 11.8 percent, both compared to April 2012. Steel product exports in the January-April period of this year totaled 3.3 million mt, worth US$2.1 billion, with decreases of 3.7 percent in volume and 13.2 percent in value compared to the corresponding period of 2012.
Meanwhile, the country's steel import volume in April totaled 329,600 metric tons (US$371 million), with the total steel imports in the first four months amounting to 1.2 million metric tons (US$1.4 billion), representing a 10.7 percent decrease from the same period last year.