Brazil produced 2.566 million mt of crude steel in June, 12.5 percent less than in June 2022, according to the country’s steel institute IABr.
Under the same comparative basis, the production of rolled products declined by 17.5 percent to 1.597 million mt, while the production of semifinished products for sale increased by 25.7 percent to 954,000 mt.
Exports increased by 13.5 percent to 1.195 million mt, while imports increased by 94.1 percent to 382,000 mt, the domestic sales declined by 10.8 percent to 1.576 million mt and the apparent consumption of steel products declined by 2.9 percent to 1.909 million mt.
Considering the first six months of 2023, the production of crude steel declined on yearly basis by 8.9 percent to 15.972 million mt, the production of rolled products declined by 9.6 percent to 10.826 million mt, the production of semifinished products for sale increased by 13.9 percent to 4.871 million mt, domestic sales declined by 5.7 percent to 9.626 million mt, the apparent consumption declined by 1.6 percent to 11.557 million mt, imports increased by 43.2 percent to 2.208 million mt and exports declined by 4.2 percent to 6.315 million mt.
Analysts still ascribe the declining performance of the steel sector in Brazil to domestic prices in average more than 25 percent higher than international prices after clearing customs, resulting in increased demand for imported products, reduced incentives for exports of finished steel products and reduced domestic sales.
According to Jefferson de Paula, president of the board of IABr and of ArcelorMittal in Brazil, the poor performance of the steel sector in Brazil derives from reduced demand from the civil construction, automotive and capital goods sectors, which represent 82.5 percent of the apparent consumption of steel products in the country.