Brazil Steel Inventories End 2011 At 1 Million Tons, Down 16.8% On Year
25 Gennaio 2012 - 4:37PM
Dow Jones News
Flat steel inventories in Brazil stood at 1.00 million metric
tons at the end of December 2011, 16.8% below the levels of a year
earlier, steel distributors' association Sindisider said late
Tuesday.
Inventories at the end of December were 0.7% below November's
figures, Sindisider said in a release. However, due to a slowdown
in distributors' steel purchasing activity, the end-December
inventories represented the equivalent of 3.1 months' consumption,
higher than in the previous month, the association said.
Steel inventories in Brazil are falling in tonnage terms due to
a fall-off in steel import levels into Brazil as local market
prices have dropped, according to Sindisider. Steel imports fell
47.5% last year compared to 2010's record levels of about 5.9
million tons, the association said.
In Oct. 2010 Brazil's steel inventories had soared to record
highs that were equivalent to 4.1 months' steel usage, bolstered by
imports encouraged by a strong real and rapid market growth.
In recent months, inventories have remained high in terms of
monthly usage due to a market slowdown and not because of high
imports, Sindisider said.
Analysts from Barclays Capital and Flowcctvm Corretora said that
the persistence of relatively high steel inventories in Brazil
inhibits steelmakers including Usinas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais
SA (USIM5.BR, USZNY), Companhia Siderurgica Nacional SA (CSNA3.BR,
SID) and ArcelorMittal Brasil (MT) from raising their flat steel
products prices in the local market.
-By Diana Kinch, Dow Jones Newswires, Tel: 55 21 2586 6086,
diana.kinch@dowjones.com
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