Year on year growth of domestic steel consumption in Brazil in 2020

In 2020, despite novel coronavirus pneumonia effects, Brazil's steel production declined, but domestic steel sales and consumption increased. It is expected that Brazil's steel industry will continue to show a certain degree of recovery in 2021.

According to the data of IABR, in 2020, the apparent consumption of steel in Brazil will be 21.2 million tons, with a year-on-year increase of 1.2%; the domestic sales volume will increase by 2.4% to 19.2 million tons, confirming the strong recovery of the domestic market in the second half of 2020. In 2020, Brazil's steel imports will be 2 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 14.3%; its exports will be 10.7 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 16.1%.

In 2020, Brazil's crude steel output will drop by 5% to 31 million tons year on year, mainly due to the equipment outage of the country's steel industry in April due to the severe demand crisis. In 2020, the output of finished and semi-finished steel products in Brazil will drop by 3.7% and 11.6% to 21.7 million tons and 7.8 million tons respectively.

Brazil's steel industry recovered significantly in December last year, with a year-on-year increase of 17.2% in crude steel output to 2.9 million tons; a year-on-year increase of 28% in domestic steel sales to 1.8 million tons; and a year-on-year increase of 30.2% in apparent steel consumption to 2 million tons.