Latin American steel imports from China surged 54% during Jan-Sep '14

SAO PAULO (Scrap Monster): The latest statistics released by the Latin American Steel Association (ALACERO) indicates that the steel imports from China grew significantly during the initial nine months of the current year.

The steel imports by Latin America from China totaled 6 million tons during the period from January to September this year, 54% higher when compared with the imports during the corresponding nine-month period last year. Flat steel imports by Latin America totaled 4 million tonnes, making up 67% of the total finished steel imports from China.

Among Latin American countries, Brazil remained the largest importer of Chinese steel products. Brazil’s imports of Chinese steel totaled 1.5 million tons during the nine-month period, accounting for one-fourth of the total imports by Latin American countries. In second place was Chile with import share of 16%. The country’s imports of steel products from China totaled 946,000 tons. Central America accounted for 14% import share with 835,776 tons.

According to ALACERO report, the countries which reported highest increase in finished steel imports from China during the nine-month period were Argentina (+136%), Mexico (+136%), Paraguay (+123%) and Colombia (+103%).

The Latin American imports of Chinese steel products totaled 611,000 tons during the month of September alone. The imports surged by 49% when compared with the same month last year.