Mexico's Iron and Steel Production Data for First Six Months of 2018

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) under the Mexican administration announced publication of the most recent iron and steel production data.

According to INEGI data, the country’s pig iron output totaled 340,000 tonnes during June this year. The half-yearly output surged higher by nearly 10% to total 2.294 million tonnes (Mt) in 2018. Mexican monthly crude steel production totaled 1.685 Mt in June. The Jan-June ’18 production totaled 41.849 Mt, marginally higher by 2.9% over the corresponding six-month period in 2017. The DRI output in H1 2018 edged lower by 4.2% over the year to total 2.968 Mt. The output totaled 480,000 tonnes during June ’18 alone.

The iron ore output witnessed notable jump by nearly 64% from 228,080 tonnes in April last year to 373,151 tonnes in April this year. The biggest source of the steel making raw material during the month was Brazil. The iron ore imports from Brazil totaled 306,850 tonnes, followed by the U.S. with 66,218 tonnes. Out of the total 373,151 tonnes, non-agglomerated iron ore imports totaled 307,061 tonnes, whereas 66,090 tonnes were agglomerated ore.

The combined ore imports by Mexico during the first four months of the year totaled 1.346 million tonnes, significantly higher by 57.2% over the previous year. Meantime, the average import prices dropped from $92.1 per ton a year before to $88.0 per ton. The imports of agglomerated iron ore totaled 278,573 tonnes. Also, non-agglomerated ore imports totaled 1.068 million tonnes, accounting for nearly 80% of the total Mexican ore imports during Jan-Apr ’18.