RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazilian crude steel production in April totaled 3.1 million tons, up 59.3% year-on-year and the highest volume since October 2018, driven by a strong comparison base with last year, when domestic steel production was shut down amid the uncertainties caused by the pandemic in the country.
The production of long steel, also driven by construction, more than doubled, from 445,000 tons to 923,000 tons.
The production of flat steel, still driven by restocking and strong demand in sectors such as machinery and equipment and vehicles, grew 61.3%, to 1.3 million tons.
“Higher demand in the domestic market reflects the recovery of consumer sectors, but also the formation of defensive stocks in some segments in relation to market volatility, caused by the boom in commodity prices,” said Marco Polo de Mello Lopes, president of the Brazil Steel Institute (Aço Brasil), responsible for the data.
In the year to the end of April, the country’s steelmakers produced 15.9% more than in the same period of 2020, or 11.8 million tons.
In addition to production, sales of steel have also grown. In April they totaled 1.9 million tons, almost double the figure recorded last year. The sale of long steel products rose 72.3% and the sale of flat steel increased 118%, to 1.1 million tons. From January to April, sales jumped 40.5%, to 7.9 million tons.
The recovery in domestic demand has prompted readjustments in alloy prices in the internal market and announcements of investments in the sector. In early June, Usiminas (USIM5) will reactivate blast furnace 2 at the Ipatinga (MG) plant. The equipment had been stopped since April last year.
Steel imports in April also soared, up 90.8% over a year earlier, to 355,65 thousand tons. In the first four months of 2021, purchases of material produced abroad reached 1.4 million tons, almost double the amount imported in the first four months of 2020.
Foreign sales fell 5.5% last month in the annual comparison, to 831.7 thousand tons, accumulating a drop of almost 14% in the year, to 3.5 million tons, according to data from Brazil Steel Institute.