Brazil's local steel sales to decelerate

Brazil’s local steel sales to decelerate

Brazil's steel association IBS expects the country's domestic steel sales to decrease 9 percent year on year to 16.2 million tons in 2005. IBS indicates that Brazil's economic policy of high interest rates and excessive stocks among distributors are the reasons behind the decline. In addition, domestic flat steel sales are projected to fall 8 percent to 9.7 million tons this year and long steel sales will drop 10 percent to 5.9 million tons. Semi-finished steel sales are also expected to decrease 12.5 percent to 603,000 tons in 2005.