Brazilian distributors’ flat steel sales up 3% in January

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Sales totalled 368,800 tonnes, against 356,600 tonnes in the same month in 2012.

Inda members purchased 372,800 tonnes of flat steel products last month, up by 5.4% compared with January 2012, when this volume was at 353,800 tonnes.

On a monthly basis, January sales rose by 18% from 312,500 tonnes in December, while purchases increased by 15.4% from 323,100 tonnes.

Inventories showed a 0.4% rise in January month-on-month, reaching 948,100 tonnes, or 2.6 months’-worth of sales.

For February, Inda expects both sales and purchases to decline by 10% compared with the previous month.