Brazil's steel distributors association, Inda, has disclosed that its members' steel sales rose 19.2 percent year on year to around 766,000 tons in the first quarter of 2007.
Sales to the equipment and machinery sector accounted for 15 percent of total sales in the first quarter of 2007.
In March alone, distributors' sales expanded 18.6 percent year on year to around 276,000 tons.