Brazil's steel distributors association, Inda, has disclosed that its members' steel sales fell 7.5 percent year on year to 317,900 mt in February, decreasing by 13.8 percent compared to January. In the January-February period of the current year, steel sales of Brazilian distributors fell by 1.9 percent on year-on-year basis to 686,700 mt.
Distributors' steel stocks stood at around 970,400 mt at the end of February, falling 3.5 percent from a year earlier and up by 2.4 percent compared to the end of January this year.
Meanwhile, Inda's distributors purchased around 340,300 mt of steel from steel producers in February, a decrease of 3.7 percent from a year earlier and down 8.7 percent month on month. In the January- February period of the current year, Brazilian distributors' purchase volumes were 1.1 percent higher than in the same period of the previous year, totaling 713,000 mt.
Brazilian distributors' imports (including heavy plates, hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized hot plates, electro-galvanized sheets, pre-painted plates and galvalume) registered a 25.5 percent of decrease in February, compared to the same month in 2012, while they were up 20.6 percent month on month, amounting to 114,900 mt. In the first two months of the year, Brazilian distributors' steel imports fell by 37.8 percent compared to the same period of 2012, amounting to 210,200 mt.
Inda said it projects a 10 percent record growth in sales and purchases in March this year.