Latin American rolled steel imports from China grew 29% in Q1 2015

Author: Paul Ploumis
14 May 2015 Last updated at 03:40:57 GMT
SAO PAULO (Scrap Monster): According to latest statistics released by the Latin American Steel Association (ALACERO), the imports of Chinese rolled steel by the Latin American region surged nearly 29% during initial quarter of the year upon comparison with the corresponding quarter last year.

The Chinese exports totaled 25.9 million tons during Jan-Mar ‘15. The Latin American region imported 2.4 million tonnes out of this, thus accounting for 9.27% share of the total Chinese exports during the three-month period. The import price per ton averaged at $621, dropping by nearly 7% when compared with Q1 2014. The total imports amounted to $1,493 million.

According to Alacero data, flat products constituted 59% of total exports of rolled steel from China to Latin America. The flat products imports totaled 1.4 million tons. When compared with Q1 2013, the imports of flat products from China have surged higher by nearly 169%. This is at a time when the volume of flat product export from China to rest of the world increased by 88%. Over this period, the average import prices by the Latin American region fell by 14%.

Also, long products constituted 36% of rolled steel products received from China. The average price per ton was higher by 19% at $555 when compared with rest of the world. The average import price by Brazil was almost 25% higher than the rest of the world.

Seamless tube imports from China accounted for 5% of the total rolled steel imports by the region. The import prices averaged at $1,072 per ton, 7% lower when compared with rest of the world.