According to the Brazil Steel Institute (IABr), Brazilian crude steel production in February this year amounted to 2.57 million metric tons, with a 5.7 percent increase year on year. In the same month, Brazilian rolled steel output remained stable at 1.7 million metric tons compared to the same month of 2016.
Meanwhile, Brazilian steelmakers produced 5.4 million metric tons of crude steel in the first two months of this year, up 9.5 percent year on year. Brazil's rolled steel product output totaled 3.48 million mt in the given period, up 4.9 percent year on year.
Brazilian domestic steel sales decreased by three percent year on year in February to 1.24 million metric tons, while domestic sales in the first two months of this year totaled 2.48 million metric tons, decreasing by 1.2 percent year on year.
Brazil's exports of steel products in February amounted to 1.17 million metric tons, rising by 10.1 percent, with a value of $556 million, up 50.7 percent, both on year-on-year basis. Steel product exports in the January-February period of this year totaled 2.44 million mt, worth $1.12 billion, with an increase of 19.4 percent in volume and a rise of 51 percent in value compared to the same period of last year.
Meanwhile, the country's steel import volume in February this year amounted to 161,000 metric tons, increasing 83 percent, with a value of $133 million, up 25.5 percent, both year on year. Brazil’s total steel imports in the first two months of this year came to 370,000 metric tons, representing a 91.7 percent increase in volume from the first two months of the previous year, while the value of these imports in the given period totaled $306 million, rising by 33.6 percent year on year.