Latin American steel imports from China surged 5% during Jan-Aug 2015

By Paul Ploumis (ScrapMonster Author)

October 12, 2015 05:50:31 AM

SAO PAULO (Scrap Monster): The Latin American countries imported 5.7 million tons of structural steel from China during the initial eight-month period of the year. The steel shipments from China were up by 5% during this period, when compared with the previous year. The finished steel imports by the region had totaled 5.4 million tons during the corresponding eight-month period last year. Meantime, finished steel production by the Latin American region has dropped by 3% during this period.

The Latin American imports of finished steel from China totaled 712,000 tons during the month of August alone. This is 21% higher when compared with 590,000 tons of finished steel imported during July.

According to latest statistics released by the Latin American Steel Association (ALACERO), the region accounted for 8.7% of Chinese steel exports during the eight-month period. The Latin American share has dropped when compared with 10.6% share during Jan-Aug ’14. The Chinese exports during the period surged higher by 28% year-on-year to 65.4 million tons.

The primary destination for Chinese finished steel exports was Central America. The shipments to the region totaled 961,000 tons, accounting for nearly 17% of the total finished steel imports by the Latin American region. The other key importers were Brazil (928,000 tons, 16% share) and Chile (793,000 tons, 14% share).

The countries which reported significant increase in imports of Chinese finished steel during Jan-Aug ’15 were Argentina (up 373%), Dominican Republic (up 173%), Cuba (up 97%) and Mexico (up 60%). On the other hand, Brazil reported 32% decline in imports over the previous year. The other countries to record significant drop in Chinese finished steel imports were Peru (down 17%), Columbia (down 12%) and Chile (down 3%).

Among product types, flat products accounted for 2.9 million tons, constituting almost 50% of the imports. The imports of long steel products totaled 1.8 million tons during the eight-month period.