According to the Brazil Steel Institute (IABr), Brazilian steelmakers produced 3 million metric tons (mt) of crude steel in May of the current year, reflecting a 5.5 percent increase over May 2012, and up 3.25 percent compared to April this year. Brazil's rolled steel product output totaled 2.3 million mt in May, rising by 4.7 percent month on month and up 3.8 percent year on year. Of this total, the country's flat steel output stood at 1.3 million mt, rising 2.9 percent over April and up 0.4 percent year on year, while Brazil's long steel output amounted to 1 million metric tons, rising by 7.1 percent month on month and up 9.6 percent compared to May 2012.
Meanwhile, year-to-date production through May 2013 was 14.1 million tons, 3.1 percent lower than in the first five months of 2012. In the first five months this year, Brazilian rolled steel output increased slightly by 0.1 percent to 10.7 million metric tons, including 6.1 million metric tons of flat products - up 0.2 percent, and 4.6 million metric tons of long products - down 0.1 percent, all compared to the corresponding period of 2012.
Brazilian steel sales domestically rose 3.4 percent in May this year comparing to May 2012, totaling 2 million metric tons, while domestic sales in the first five months totaled 9.35 million metric tons, increasing by 2.5 percent compared to the same period last year.
Brazil's exports of steel products in May amounted to 607,600 metric tons, falling by 37.7 percent, worth US$508 million, down 28.1 percent, both compared to May 2012. Steel product exports in the January-May period of this year totaled 3.9 million mt, worth US$2.6 billion, with decreases of 11.3 percent in volume and 16.6 percent in value compared to the corresponding period of 2012.
Meanwhile, the country's steel import volume in May totaled 266,300 metric tons (US$342 million), with the total steel imports in the first five months amounting to 1.4 million metric tons (US$1.7 billion), representing a 10.8 percent decrease from the same period last year.