The Brazil Steel Institute (IABr) said Tuesday that Brazil's crude steel production totaled 2.8 million metric tons in October, which is up 2.9 percent from September. Compared to October 2008, this figure is down 3.5 percent.
Brazil's rolled steel production totaled 2.2 million mt in October, which is up 10 percent from September and down eight percent from October of last year.
Regarding sales, Brazil's domestic shipments totaled 1.7 million mt in October, up 4.9 percent from September but down 9.7 percent from the year-ago month. Brazil's steel exports hit one million mt in October, with a value of US$539 million. These figures are down 4.2 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively, from September. Brazil's steel imports in October totaled 197,200 mt, said IABr, valuing US$276.1 million and down 11.4 percent from last year.
Altogether, these figures indicate that Brazil's national apparent steel consumption in October was 1.9 million mt, representing a fall of 10 percent from the same month of last year, said IABr. On a year-to-date basis, IABr said apparent steel consumption in the first 10 months of the year totaled approximately 15 million mt, down 30 percent from the same period of last year.