Alana Gandra
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Rio - Even though raw steel production declined 12.4% in April to 2.416 million tons, Brazil remains first in steel production in Latin America, followed by Mexico, Argentina, and Venezuela. The data were released yesterday (24) in Rio de Janeiro by the Brazilian Steel Institute (IBS).

The IBS press office said that the drop in production in April was caused by the shutdown of a blast furnace at the National Steel Company ("Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional"). Except for this fact, production would have been the same as last year.

Between January and April, raw steel production was down 10.2%, to 9.6 million tons, compared with 10.6 million tons in the first four months of 2005.

Domestic sales were up 2.6% in April. According to the IBS, the 7.9% increase in domestic sales of long steel laminates attests to the more intense pace of construction activity in Brazil, especially in the housing sector.

Foreign sales, on the other hand, slipped 6.6%. According to the institute, the priority assigned to the domestic market is the reason for the 38.5% drop in foreign sales of long steel products.

Translation: David Silberstein