Brazilian crude steel output drops 5.9% in August as imports soar high

Brazil’s crude steel production in August totaled 2.719 million tonnes, a 5.9% drop compared to the same period last year, as reported by Aço Brasil on Thursday, Sept. 21. The association attributed this decline to record imports of Chinese steel products.

The largest decline was observed in long steel products (15%), while flat-rolled products fell by 10%. Semi-finished products partially offset the decrease, which surged by 44% to 832,000 tonnes.

Year-to-date production until the end of last month shows an 8.3% decrease, totaling 21.34 million tonnes, according to Aço Brasil.

Meanwhile, domestic sales in August reached 1.71 million tonnes, a 6.2% drop compared to the previous year, also driven down by declines in flat and long products, which decreased by 7.7% and 5.5%, respectively.

From January through the end of last month, steel sales in Brazil have fallen by 5.4%, totaling 13.78 million tonnes.

Aço Brasil noted that August imports reached their highest level since July 2021, at 495.7 thousand tonnes, a 55.6% increase compared to the same period in 2022.

See the chart below for a month-on-month comparison of Brazilian steel imports (hs 72-73) from January 2019 and July 2023. The data is from DataLiner.

Brazilian steel imports | Jan 2019 – Jul 2023 | TEU

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

Of this volume, 61% of imports came from China, accounting for 302.5 thousand tonnes, marking a historic record, according to the association.

Russian steel imports also saw significant growth in August, rising from an insignificant volume in August 2022 to 63.6 thousand tonnes during the same period this year, making it the second-largest source of Brazilian steel imports, as per the data from Aço Brasil.

Brazilian imports of Russian steel have nearly quintupled this year compared to 2022, going from about 52 thousand tons to 250.15 thousand tons between January and August.

Conversely, imports of steel produced in Turkey, a major global producer, plummeted by 97.5% to just over 1 thousand tons in August, largely due to the devastating earthquakes in the country.

Steel imports from the European Union to Brazil have fallen 43.5%.

In total, the country’s steel imports this year amount to 3.18 million tons, reflecting a growth of 49.5%.

Source: Notícias Agrícolas

To read the original news text, visit: https://www.noticiasagricolas.com.br/noticias/politica-economia/359884-producao-brasileira-de-aco-bruto-cai-59-e-importacao-dispara-em-agosto.html

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