Brazil’s slab exports down, billet up in September

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Slab exports totalled 312,523 tonnes last month, down from 478,394 tonnes year-on-year and by 339,820 tonnes month-on-month.

The decrease was mainly a result of the absence of shipments to Thailand, Morocco, Mexico and China, which in September last year respectively took 87,553 tonnes, 41,022 tonnes, 37,891 tonnes and 36,442 tonnes of Brazilian slab.

Shipments to the USA and Germany, on the other hand, increased in September, to 210,963 tonnes and 45,458 tonnes respectively, from 207,596 tonnes and only 1,037 tonnes one year earlier.

South Korea purchased 49,261 tonnes, down from 55,285 tonnes one year ago.

Billet
Meanwhile, billet exports increased from 44,693 tonnes in September 2011 and 35,206 tonnes in August this year to 48,428 tonnes last month, according to the ministry’s figures.

Saudi Arabia took 19,108 tonnes, having taken nothing in September last year.

Taiwan and the USA also reported volumes in comparison with no shipments one year ago, of 5,967 tonnes and 2,963 tonnes respectively.

Indonesia bought 8,219 tonnes, up from 6,586 tonnes last year.

On the other hand, there were no shipments to Thailand last month, which compares with 10,102 tonnes shipped in September 2011 and 9,894 tonnes in August this year.

Exports to Argentina decreased year-on-year from 18,232 tonnes to 10,006 tonnes.

Nine months
Between January and September 2012, slab exports reached 3.9 million tonnes, down from 4.19 million tonnes in the corresponding period of 2011.

Billet exports fell from 478,194 tonnes to 400,652 tonnes.