According to Brazil's steel institute IBS, the global economic crisis brought down Brazilian steel production in Q1. It released some of the country's poorest production figures in recent years. Output in all 11 categories of steel analyzed by IBS suffered steep declines in the first three months of 2009 compared to Q1 of 2008.

In the crude steel category, production fell by 42% YoY to 5 million tonnes in the first 3 months of 2009 as against 8.64 million tonnes. In March alone, crude steel production totaled 1.7 million tonnes, down by 41.5% YoY but up by 4.7% MoM.

In rolled products, Q1 output fell by 46.6% YoY to 3.47 million tonnes as compared to 6.49 million tonnes. Meanwhile, output of flats plunged 51.2% YoY to 1.88 million tonnes against 3.86 million tonnes, while production of long products plummeted 39.9% to 1.58 million tonnes from 2.63 million tonnes. March long steel production equaled 1.3 million tonnes, down by 40.5% YoY but up by 16.2% MoM.

In the semi finished category, production in the recent quarter declined 35.1% YoY to 1.01 million tonnes from 1.55 million tonnes. Production of slabs suffered a 31.9% YoY plunge to 747,700 tonnes as compared to 1.09 million tonnes, while ingots, blooms and billets decreased by 42.7% YoY to 263,900 tonnes. Pig iron production in the recent quarter fell by 46.4% YoY to 4.87 million tonnes against 9.10 million tonnes.

(Sourced from www.bnamericas.com)