Brazil produced 2.719 million mt of crude steel in August, 5.9 percent less than in August 2022, according to the country’s steel institute IABr.
Under the same comparative basis, the production of rolled products declined by 12.1 percent to 1.9 million mt, while the production of semifinished products for sale increased by 44.0 percent to 832,000 mt.
Exports increased by 6.4 percent to 946,000 mt, while imports increased by 55.6 percent to 496,000 mt. Domestic sales declined by 6.2 percent to 1.7 million mt and apparent consumption of steel products declined by 0.9 percent to 2.1 million mt.
Considering the first eight months of 2023, the production of crude steel declined on yearly basis by 8.3 percent to 21.3 million mt, the production of rolled products declined by 9.9 percent to 14.6 million mt, the production of semifinished products for sale increased by 19.6 percent to 6.4 million mt, domestic sales declined by 5.4 percent to 13.0 million mt, apparent consumption declined by 0.6 percent to 15.8 million mt, imports increased by 49.5 percent to 3.2 million mt and exports declined by 5.0 percent to 8.0 million mt.
Domestic steel prices are now in average 13 to 14 percent higher than international prices of similar products after clearing customs, against 18 percent one month ago, still increasing the demand for imported products, and affecting exports of finished steel products.