Latin American steel imports from China surged 6% during Jan-Jul 2015

By  Paul Ploumis 02 Sep 2015  Last updated at  04:06:32 GMT

SAO PAULO (Scrap Monster):  According to latest statistics released by the Latin American Steel Association (ALACERO), the imports of Chinese finished steel by the Latin American region surged nearly 6% during initial seven-month period of the year upon comparison with the corresponding period last year.

The Chinese exports totaled 56.18 million tons during Jan-Jul ‘15. The Latin American region imported 5 million tonnes out of this, thus accounting for 8.9% share of the total Chinese exports during the seven-month period. Latin America was third largest importer of Chinese steel after South Korea and Vietnam during the period. The imports by South Korea and Vietnam totaled 7.3 million mt and 5.3 million mt respectively.

During the month of July ’15 alone, Latin America received 590,000 tons of steel from China, lower by 16% when compared with the imports of 705,000 tons during July 2014.

Country-wise, the major importers of Chinese steel in the region during the seven-month period were:- Brazil (837,000 tons, 17% of the region), Central America (805,000 tons, 16%) and Chile (702,000 tons, 14%). The countries which reported sharp rise in steel imports during Jan-Jul ’15 were Argentina (up nearly 421%), Cuba (up 233%) and the Dominican Republic (up 166%). On the other hand, the countries which reported decrease in imports during the period were Brazil (down 33%), Colombia (down 14%) and Peru (down 13%).

According to Alacero data, flat products constituted 59% of total exports of steel from China to Latin America. The flat products imports totaled 2.9 million tons. The major product categories that featured in Latin American imports were:- alloyed sheet and coil (1.1 million mt), hot-dip galvanized (649,000 mt) and cold-rolled coil (461,000 mt).

Also, long steel products import totaled 1.8 million tons during the seven-month period. Rebars (793,000 tons) and Wires (741,000 tons) constituted bulk of the long products.