BRASÍLIA: Though overall volumes were up, according to numbers released by Abal, revenue from primary aluminium into Brazil were down somewhat over the course of the first nine months of 2016, off by over ten percent year-on-year.
Between January and September of 2016, Brazil exported 259.1 thousand metric tons, which was good for a 10.5% increase over the first nine months of 2015, when 234.5 thousand metric tons left the country’s ports.
Despite the fact that volumes were up, revenues from those sales were down by almost exactly the same percentage. Revenues for the first nine months of last year totaled US$397 million, down from the first nine months of 2015 by 10.6%, when it totaled US$444 million.
Revenues for semi-formed aluminum were also off by a similar amount, totaling US$400 million. That total was down from 2015’s revenues over the first nine months of US$445 million. And, similarly to shipments of primary aluminium, semi-formed aluminium left the country at a slightly improved pace, totaling 92,900 metric tons. That number is up from the first nine months of 2015 by a slender 1.3% when it totaled 91,700 metric tons.
Scrap aluminium was a bright spot for the Brazilian aluminium industry over the first nine months of 2016, as the country exported a total of 30,000 tons, a 92.3% increase over the same time period in 2015. Revenue was up substantially as well, reaching US$36 million, a 44% increase year-on-year.
Abal also released numbers for the industry’s overall output last year. Brazilian smelters produced 792,700 metric tons, a 2.7% increase over 2015, when it totaled 772,200 metric tons. In the month of December the Brazilian aluminium sector produced 67,400 metric tons, which was a 5.6% increase year-on-year. December’s output topped November’s output as well, increasing by 2.1% from 66 thousand metric tons.
