Brazilian steel demand decreased further in April, demonstrated by lower volumes of flat-rolled products sold in the market and despite a recovery in the long-rolled market, national steel association Instituto A??o Brasil said on Thursday May 23.
Steel demand has now fallen for two consecutive months, following a drop of 1.6% in March. Steel apparent consumption was 1.67 million tonnes in April, 1.5% lower than 1.7 million tonnes in the corresponding month a year before. Flat-rolled demand hit 1.02 million tonnes, from 1.05 million tonnes in April 2018, and long-rolled was marginally higher at 654,000 tonnes, compared with 642,000 tonnes. Apparent usage is also down in the first four months of 2019 to 6.61 million tonnes, from 6.71 million tonnes in January-April last year....