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Steel News March 29, 2017 12:30:53 PM

Latin American finished steel trade records net deficit in January

Paul Ploumis
ScrapMonster Author
The latest statistics published by the Latin American Iron and Steel Institute (ALACERO) indicates that steel consumption by the region increased marginally during January this year.

Latin American finished steel trade records net deficit in January

SPOKANE (Scrap Monster): The latest statistics published by the Latin American Iron and Steel Institute (ALACERO) indicates that steel consumption by the region increased marginally in January this year, following the trend during end-2016. The region’s crude and finished steel output too increased during the first month of the year.

The figures released by the trade body indicate that consumption of steel increased marginally by 1% during the first month of 2017. The region’s crude steel production surged higher by 13% during the month. Meantime, finished steel consumption too was up by 4% over the previous year.

The crude steel production by Latin America and the Caribbean totaled 5.2 million tonnes in January 2017, which is significantly higher by 13% when matched with the production of 4.6 million tonnes in January last year. The largest crude steel producer of the region was Brazil. The country’s production totaled 2.8 million tonnes, accounting for 54% of regional production. The country reported 13% jump in crude steel production during the month.

Brazil remained the key producer of finished steel in Jan ’17. The country produced 1.8 million tonnes out of the 4.3 million tonnes of finished steel produced by the region. It accounted for 41% of the regional finished steel output. In second place was Mexico with 1.6 million mt, constituting 38% of regional output.

As per data, the apparent finished steel usage by the region totaled 5.20 million mt during the month of January this year, marginally higher by 1% when matched with the year before that. Out of this, consumption of flat products totaled 3.0 million mt, accounting for 56% of total finished steel consumption. The long products and seamless tubes usage totaled 2.2 million mt and 60,000 mt respectively. The countries to record significant rise in finished steel usage were Mexico (up 171,000 mt, +9%), Brazil (up 114,000 mt, +9 and El Salvador (up 67,000 mt, +233%). On the other hand, several countries recorded decline in consumption. The largest decline in finished steel consumption was reported by Argentina (down 6,200 tons, -16%). The consumption by Guatemala, Ecuador and Peru declined by 59%, 38% and 18% respectively. The apparent usage in Chile has narrowed by 13% over the year.

Imports accounted for 36% of Latin American steel consumption. The share of imports increased when matched with 33% during January 2016. The Latin American finished steel imports totaled 1.9 million tonnes. Out of this, 1.3 million mt were flat products, 515,000 mt were long products and the remaining 32,000 mt were seamless tubes. The exports of finished steel by Latin America surged higher by 24% over the previous year to 792,000 tonnes. Of this, 414,000 mt were flat products, 284,000 mt were long products and 93,000 mt were seamless tubes.

According to ALACERO data, finished steel trade by the region reported net deficit of 1.1 million mt during the first month of 2017. The country to report largest trade deficit was Mexico. Mexico’s trade deficit totaled 514,000 mt, followed by Colombia (190,000 mt), Chile (145,000 mt) and Peru (104,000 mt).The only country in the region to report trade surplus was Brazil. The country registered 224,000 mt surplus during the month.

The advance information released by the steel trade body suggests considerable decline in Latin American crude steel production in February this year. The monthly output totaled around 4.9 million mt, registering 6% decline over the prior month. Also, production of finished steel totaled 4.1 million mt during the month, falling nearly 4% than January 2017.

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