During January and February 2009, Brazilian mills were only running at about 47.5 percent of capacity.
Compared with 2007 and 2008, with average capacity at 80 percent, it is clear that the current global economic downturn has seriously affected Brazil’s steel industry.
As know, steel exports are down by 51.6 percent in the first two months of 2009 compared with the year same period of time in 2008.
Brazilian president Lula da Silva submitted a new economic stimulate project to help mills benefit from some specific tax free measures. This will help the steel industry and boost steel demand from the automobile industry too. However, some investments for the steel industry have been postponed or canceled. Source: Yieh.com