Reuters reported that Brazil's largest steel industry lobbying group is considering slashing the estimate for raw steel production in 2012, signaling that mills are struggling with high raw materials costs, weak demand and falling global prices for the commodity.

Mr Marco Polo de Mello Lopes president of Instituto Aço Brasil told Reuters that it is analyzing numbers after August 2012 data disappointed.

IABr forecasts raw steel production of 36 million tonnes for 2012.

Output of raw steel slipped 3.3% in the first eight months, to 23.19 million tonnes. A flagging global economy, a surge in the cost of iron ore and coal and competitive pressures have weighed on Brazil's largest mills since early 2011.

Mr Lopes said that "We will possibly have to revise down some of the numbers. We may do that by November 2012."

IABr said that output of raw steel in Brazil fell by 6.3% YoY in August 2012 to 2.837 million tonnes from a year earlier. Production slipped 5.5% MoM from July 2012 in an indication that woes afflicting mills still linger.

Source - Reuters

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