Brazilian crude steel production increased 2.4% to 2.8Mt in November according to the latest figures from the country’s local steel industry association Instituto Aço Brasil (IABr).
According to a statement released by the association, output of rolled products amounted to 2.2Mt in October 2012, up 10.1% from the same period the year before, and to 24.3Mt in January-November, a 4% increase from 2011. Domestic steel sales in November 2012 reached 1.8Mt, up 2.5% from the previous year, and 20Mt in the first eleven months, up 0.9%.
Steel exports in November amounted to 789,000t, worth USD 502M. However, from January-November exports were 9Mt, worth USD 6.5B, down 9.6% in volume and 15.5% in value.
Brazil registered 279,000t of steel imports, worth USD 349M in November. Imports reached 3.5Mt in January-November, up 2.7% from the previous year.
Apparent domestic steel consumption reached 23.4Mt in the first eleven months, representing an increase of 1%.
Brazil is Latin America’s biggest steel producer. The country is home to steelmakers such as Gerdau, Usiminas and CSN, and hosts a number of foreign-owned steel companies.
Steelmakers in the country have been hit in recent years by high iron ore prices, high local production costs, global overcapacity and unstable demands, as a result of economic volatility.
