In March this year, Brazilian crude steel production totaled 2.83 million metric tons, reflecting an increase of 15.67 percent compared to February and a 63.4 percent increase from March 2009, according to the Brazil Steel Institute (IABr).
Brazil's rolled steel product output totaled 2.21 million mt in March, increasing by 11.8 percent month on month and up 68.8 percent year on year. Of this total, the country's flat steel output stood at 1.33 million mt - up 14.13 percent over February and up 75.6 percent year on year, while its long steel output amounted to 882,700 metric tons, rising by 8.51 percent month on month and up 57.7 percent compared to March 2009.
On the other hand, in the first quarter of this year, Brazil's crude steel output rose 59.3 percent, reaching 7.97 million metric tons, while its rolled steel output increased by 80.7 percent to 6.27 million metric tons, including 3.77 million metric tons of flat products - up 99.9 percent and 2.5 million metric tons of long products - up 57.7 percent, all compared to the first three months of 2009.
Domestic sales totaled 1.86 million metric tons in March, up 18.29 percent from February and up 55.2 percent from the same month last year. Sales in the first quarter totaled 5.03 million metric tons, increasing by 62 percent compared to the same period last year.
Exports of steel products in March amounted to 698,100 metric tons - up 30.8 percent year on year, worth US$431.4 million. Exports in the first quarter totaled 2.03 million mt, worth US$1.15 billion, with increases of 40.7 percent in volume and 13.5 percent in value compared to the corresponding period of 2009.
Meanwhile, the country's steel import volume in March totaled 573,000 metric tons (US$468.8 million), with a first quarter total of 1.32 million metric tons of steel products (US$1.14 billion), representing an 129.4 percent increase from the same period last year.