By Paul Ploumis 06 Jul 2015 Last updated at 03:47:57 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 12% during initial five-month period of the year upon comparison with the corresponding period last year.

The Chinese exports totaled 39.5 million tons during Jan-May ‘15. The Latin American region imported 3.8 million tonnes out of this, thus accounting for over 10% share of the total Chinese exports during the five-month period. Latin America was only second to South Korea which received 5.2 million tons of rolled steel from China during this period.

During the month of May ’15 alone, Latin America received 540,000 tons of rolled steel from China, 34% lesser when compared with the previous month and lesser by 37% when matched with May 2014.

Country-wise, the major importers of Chinese rolled steel in the region during the five-month period were:- Brazil (671,000 tons, 18% of the region), Central (572,000 tons, 15%) and Chile (526,000 tons, 14%). The countries which reported sharp rise in rolled steel imports during Jan-May ’15 were Argentina (up 420%), Dominican Republic (up 192%), Cuba (up nearly 155%) and Mexico (up 66%).

According to Alacero data, flat products constituted 62% of total exports of rolled steel from China to Latin America. The flat products imports totaled 2.3 million tons. The major product categories that featured in Latin American imports were: - Leaves and other steel coil imports (948,000 tons), Hot galvanized (491,000 tons) and Cold coils (353,000 tons).

Also, long steel products import totaled 1.3 million tons during the five-month period. Bars (542,000 tons) and Wires (505,000 tons) constituted bulk of the long products import.