Brazil's steel distributors association, Inda, has disclosed that its members' steel sales rose 11.1 percent year on year to 383,100 mt in April, increasing by 7.5 percent compared to March. In the January-April period of the current year, steel sales of Brazilian distributors rose slightly by 0.1 percent on year-on-year basis to 1.4 million mt.
Distributors' steel stocks stood at around 1 million mt at the end of April, nearly stable with just a slight 0.1 percent increase from a year earlier and up by 1.9 percent compared to the end of March this year.
Meanwhile, Inda's distributors purchased around 401,600 mt of steel from steel producers in April, an increase of 15.8 percent from a year earlier and up 4.3 percent month on month. In the January-April period of the current year, Brazilian distributors' purchase volumes were four percent higher than in the same period of the previous year, totaling 1.5 million mt.
Brazilian distributors' imports (including heavy plates, hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized hot plates, electro-galvanized sheets, pre-painted plates and galvalume) registered a 28.9 percent increase in April compared to the same month in 2012, while they were up 48.6 percent month on month, amounting to 133,900 mt. In the first four months of the year, however, Brazilian distributors' steel imports fell by 26.5 percent compared to the same period of 2012, amounting to 434,300 mt.
Inda said it projects a five percent decline in sales and purchases in May this year.