According to the Brazil Steel Institute (IABr), Brazilian crude steel production in June this year amounted to 2.65 million metric tons, with a four percent increase year on year. In the same month, Brazilian rolled steel output rose 2.3 percent to 1.81 million metric tons compared to the same month of 2016.
Meanwhile, Brazilian steelmakers produced 16.72 million metric tons of crude steel in the first half of this year, up 12.4 percent year on year. Brazil's rolled steel product output totaled 10.93 million mt in the given period, up 7.1 percent year on year.
Brazilian domestic steel sales increased by 0.3 percent year on year in June to 1.49 million metric tons, while domestic sales in the first six months of this year totaled 8.05 million metric tons, decreasing by two percent year on year.
Brazil's exports of steel products in June amounted to 1.2 million metric tons, falling by 1.1 percent, with a value of $640 million, up 19.9 percent, both on year-on-year basis. Steel product exports in the January-June period of this year totaled 7.3 million mt, worth $3.7 billion, with an increase of 9.2 percent in volume and a rise of 45.1 percent in value compared to the same period of last year.
Meanwhile, the country's steel import volume in June this year amounted to 192,000 metric tons, increasing 108.7 percent, with a value of $185 million, up 79.6 percent, both year on year. Brazil’s total steel imports in the first half of this year came to 1.21 million metric tons, representing a 64.1 percent increase in volume year on year, while the value of these imports in the given period totaled $1.08 billion, rising by 41 percent year on year.