Brazil’s steel distributors association Inda downgraded its forecast for sales of steel in 2014, it said recently, now predicting a 3.1 percent decrease in steel sales to 4.4 million mt this year compared to a 1 percent increase it had forecast previously.
Back in December 2013, the association’s 2014 outlook forecast a 4 percent increase in steel sales. Carlos Loureiro, Inda’s president, said the industry’s performance in August was a “disaster”,, adding the next months are not “exciting”, especially because of coming October elections.
“With elections, the atmosphere [of the industry] is not good. The sector does not do well,” he added.