According to the Brazil Steel Institute (IABr), Brazilian crude steel production in March this year amounted to 2.85 million metric tons, with a 13.6 percent increase year on year. In the same month, Brazilian rolled steel output rose 10.5 percent to 1.94 million metric tons compared to the same month of 2016.
Meanwhile, Brazilian steelmakers produced 8.25 million metric tons of crude steel in the first three months of this year, up 10.9 percent year on year. Brazil's rolled steel product output totaled 5.42 million mt in the given period, up 6.9 percent year on year.
Brazilian domestic steel sales increased by 0.7 percent year on year in March to 1.48 million metric tons, while domestic sales in the first three months of this year totaled 3.96 million metric tons, decreasing by 0.5 percent year on year.
Brazil's exports of steel products in March amounted to 1.38 million metric tons, rising by 13.9 percent, with a value of $731 million, up 63.5 percent, both on year-on-year basis. Steel product exports in the January-March period of this year totaled 3.82 million mt, worth $1.85 billion, with an increase of 17.4 percent in volume and a rise of 55.6 percent in value compared to the same period of last year.
Meanwhile, the country's steel import volume in March this year amounted to 268,000 metric tons, increasing 53 percent, with a value of $218 million, up 44.4 percent, both year on year. Brazil’s total steel imports in the first three months of this year came to 637,000 metric tons, representing a 73.1 percent increase in volume from the first three months of the previous year, while the value of these imports in the given period totaled $524 million, rising by 37.9 percent year on year.