Brazil`s flat steel shipments abroad reached a new record level in May, Kallanish learns from the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (Mdic).

Brazil`s flat steel exports amounted to 648,280 tonnes in the period, 473,160t more or 270.2% than in the corresponding period of 2018 and 260% up on April. The volume represents a new record for the country`s flat steel shipments abroad. The previous high was a volume of 415,510t exported in September 2015, Mdic data show. 

During the first five months of 2019, flat steel shipments abroad were 1,464,000t, a rise of 40.9% year-on-year. The value of these exports also rose in the period to $925.2 million, or 24.3% higher y-o-y. The average flat product export value during January-May was $623/tonne fob however, -11.7% lower y-o-y.

The main destination for Brazilian flat steel shipments to the end of May was Vietnam, which took 23% of overall shipments. Exports to the US, Argentina and Colombia meanwhile had 14%,12% and 11% shares, respectively.

Brazil’s exports of semi-finished products rose by 83.3% y-o-y in May to 829,450t, but were -20.2% lower than the total of 1,040,000t in April. Year-to-date, these were 28% higher than in the first five months of 2018 at 4.33 million tonnes. Over the January-May period the value of semis shipments reached $2.18 billion, 27.4% more y-o-y. According to Mdic data, the average semi-finished products' export value during the period was $505/tonne fob, or -0.4% lower than that in 2018.

During January-May the main destination for Brazilian semi-finished product exports was the US, which took a 72% share of overall sales. This was followed by Germany and Italy, both with a share of 4.0%..