Before the quarantine, Inda presented the sector's numbers with good results in the first two months of the year.
The data below reflect the position of companies distributing steel products, flat steel , before the stoppage imposed by the Corona Virus. The numbers presented by Inda refer to the month of February, when the stoppage measures had not yet been announced.
In February, flat steel sales registered an increase of 1.9% when compared to January of the same year, reaching the amount of 284.6 thousand tons against 279.4 thousand that month. In relation to the same month of last year, the registered drop was 8.1%, as 309,800 tons were sold on that occasion.
The purchases of the period showed an increase of 3% in relation to January with a total volume of 306.2 thousand tons against 297.3 thousand in January. Compared to February 2019, which had registered purchases of 239.5 thousand ton. the increase was 27.9%.
With this movement, inventories in absolute numbers rose by 2.6% in relation to the previous month, reaching the amount of 839.7 thousand tons. Inventory turnover closed up at 3.0 months.
Information on imports ended the month of February with a 39% drop in relation to the previous month, with a total volume of 64.8 thousand tons. Comparing to the same month of the previous year (94.2 thousand ton.), imports registered a drop of 31.2%.
On the occasion of the presentation of such data, the board of Inda had announced that the expectation is that in March the movement should be similar to that presented in February.
However, given the new business framework that has been installed in Brazil, there are no details about future expectations.
Source: Inda
