The Brazilian production of crude steel reached 2.732 million metric tons (mt) in January 2026, down 1.4 percent compared to 2,770 million mt in January 2025, according to Instituto Aço Brasil, the Brazilian steel institute (IABr).
On a comparable basis, rolled product output dropped by 4.1 percent to 1.873 million mt. Both flat products and long products saw a 4.1 percent decrease, reaching 1.089 million mt and 784,000 mt respectively.
Similarly, domestic sales of steel products declined by 6.3 percent to 1.555 million mt and the apparent consumption of steel products declined by 7 percent to 2.003 million mt, while exports increased by 34.2 percent to 1.218 million mt, and imports declined by 6.5 percent to 516,000 mt.
According to Índice de confiança da indústria do aço (ICIA), the index assessing executive confidence within Brazil's steel sector, ICIA recorded a value of 57.6 points, an increase of 8.4 points compared with December. This marks the first instance since November 2024 that the index has exceeded the 50-point threshold separating optimism from pessimism.
IABr reports that the positive outlook in February is attributed to recent antidumping measures targeting cold rolled coils and coated flat products imported from China, along with expectations for additional antidumping actions to be announced in the coming months.