Brazil’s crude steel production fell 4.9 percent in June, year-on-year, to 2.6 million metric tons (mt), the country’s steel institute (IABr) said.

“We’re seeing the portrait of what was being drawn during the year. June was an atypical month, and it was known that there would be a slowdown in production due to the World Cup,” said IABr’s president, Marco Lopes.

In Brazil, most companies paused works during the games of the country’s soccer team.

Finished, flat and long steel production decreased 16.4 percent in June, year-on-year, and 4.5 percent in the first half of the year.

Flat steel production fell by 13 percent in June to 1.1 million mt, year-on-year, while long steel production diminished 20.9 percent in the same period to 790,500 mt, IABr said.