Brazilian crude steel production is expected to decrease by one percent year on year in the current year to 32.9 million mt, according to the Brazilian Steel Institute (Instituto Aco Brasil).
Meanwhile, in the current year Brazil’s domestic sales of steel products are expected to decline by 4.1 percent year on year to 17.4 million mt. In addition, steel consumption in the country this year is predicted to total 19.4 million mt, down 8.8 percent compared to last year.
Instituto Aco Brasil stated that these figures depict the worst crisis in the history of the Brazilian steel industry, resulting from the structural and cyclical factors that have led the industry to lay off 29,740 workers from 2014 to 2015, by closing 74 production units.
On the other hand, in the current year, steel exports of the country are expected to amount to 14.04 million mt, up 2.3 percent year on year, while the revenue from export sales is expected to rise by three percent to $6.8 billion compared to 2015. Imports are forecast to decline significantly by 38 percent in volume and 38.7 percent in value in 2016, both compared to the previous year.