In September this year, Brazilian crude steel production totaled 2.81 million metric tons, falling by 5.2 percent as compared to August and up by 3.6 percent from September 2010, according to the Brazil Steel Institute (IABr).
Brazil's rolled steel product output totaled 2.03 million mt in September, falling by 3.4 percent month on month and up 2.2 percent year on year. Of this total, the country's flat steel output stood at 1.08 million mt - down 8.3 percent over August and down 7.7 percent year on year, while Brazil's long steel output amounted to 950,200 metric tons, rising by 2.8 percent month on month and up 16.6 percent compared to September 2010.
On the other hand, in the first nine months of this year, Brazil's crude steel output rose 7.3 percent, reaching 26.7 million metric tons, while its rolled steel output decreased by 2.6 percent to 19 million metric tons, including 10.7 million metric tons of flat products - down 8.2 percent, and 8.3 million metric tons of long products - up 5.7 percent, all compared to the corresponding period of 2010.
Domestic sales totaled 1.8 million metric tons in September, up 4.1 percent from the same month last year and falling by 2.8 percent month on month, while sales in the first nine months totaled 16.3 million metric tons, increasing by one percent compared to the same period last year.
Exports of steel products in September amounted to 777,600 metric tons - down 25.4 percent year on year, worth US$598.2 million. Exports in the January-September period of this year totaled 8.36 million mt, worth US$6.42 billion, with increases of 40.1 percent in volume and 70.4 percent in value compared to the corresponding period of 2010.
Meanwhile, the country's steel import volume in September totaled 345,200 metric tons (US$408.6 million), with the first nine months' total reaching 2.8 million metric tons of steel products (US$3.4 billion), representing a 35.1 percent increase from the same period last year.