According to the Brazil Steel Institute (IABr), Brazilian crude steel production in August this year amounted to 2.95 million metric tons, with a 1.2 percent increase year on year. In the same month, Brazilian rolled steel output rose three percent to 1.94 million metric tons compared to the same month of 2016.
Meanwhile, Brazilian steelmakers produced 22.51 million metric tons of crude steel in the January-August period of this year, up 9.3 percent year on year. Brazil's rolled steel product output totaled 14.71 million mt in the given period, up five percent year on year.
Brazilian domestic steel sales increased by 4.8 percent year on year in August to 1.55 million metric tons, while domestic sales in the first seven months of this year totaled 11.04 million metric tons, decreasing by 0.5 percent year on year.
Brazil's exports of steel products in August amounted to 1.47 million metric tons, rising by 29 percent, with a value of $764 million, up 37.4 percent, both on year-on-year basis. Steel product exports in the January-August period of this year totaled 9.84 million mt, worth $5.01 billion, with an increase of 12.9 percent in volume and a rise of 43 percent in value compared to the same period of last year.
Meanwhile, the country's steel import volume in August this year amounted to 191,000 metric tons, increasing 73.6 percent, with a value of $209 million, up 69.9 percent, both year on year. Brazil’s total steel imports in the first eight months of this year came to 1.61 million metric tons, representing a 67.4 percent increase in volume year on year, while the value of these imports in the given period totaled $1.48 billion, rising by 45.7 percent year on year.