Steel industry grew 8.9% in 2018

Domestic sales of the Brazilian steel industry should end the year with 8.9% growth in comparison to 2017. According to the Aço Brasil Institute, the industry sold 18.8 million tons of steel in 2018. This amount is expected to increase by 5.8% in 2019, reaching 19.9 million tons.

Production volume numbers have also been positive. This is because the Brazilian steel industry is expected to hit record-high crude steel output (estimated at 36 million tons), up 3.8% in comparison to 2017.

Despite the forecast of a 2.6% increase in imports compared to 2017 (2.4 million tons) and a 7.2% decrease in exports (expected to reach 14.2 million tons), the entity foresees an increase in "apparent consumption" (the sum of domestic sales and importations by distributors and consumers). The projection for that metric rose from 5.3% to 8.2%, influenced by growing internal trade. Volume consumed is expected to surpass 21.1 million tons.