According to the data released by Latin American steel association Alacero, imports of finished steel products to Latin America from China totaled 3.2 million metric tons in January-September 2012, becoming the second most important destination with nine percent of total Chinese finished steel exports. With 7.5 million mt, South Korea continued to be the biggest destination for China's finished steel exports, responsible for 21 percent of the total, while the European Union dropped to third place with 2.3 million tons, responsible for seven percent of total Chinese finished steel exports.
While China's finished steel exports to South Korea decreased by 3.2 percent compared to January-September 2011, the export volume to Latin America continued to experience an important increase, rising by 18.7 percent year on year.
During the given period, the countries in Latin America which imported the greatest volumes of steel products from China were Brazil (649,764 mt), Chile (576,595 mt) and Peru (491,526 mt). 54 percent of Chinese exports to the region are concentrated in these three countries. In Chile and Peru, the volumes imported during the first three quarters of 2012 increased 69 percent and 62 percent respectively versus the same period of 2011. However, in January-September 2012, Mexico was the country with the highest increase in imports from China compared to the same period of 2011, rising from 132,974 mt to 293,873 mt.
In some Latin American countries, steel from China supplied more than 20 percent of apparent steel use in the first nine months of 2012, accounting for 32 percent of apparent steel use in Venezuela, 25 percent in Chile, 24 percent in Peru, and 20 percent Ecuador.
Meanwhile, in the third quarter last year flat steel continued to be the most exported Chinese product to the region. Within this group, other alloyed steel sheets and coils (222,545 mt), cold rolled coil (172,692 mt) and hot dip galvanized sheet (166,667 mt) were the most imported products.
Alacero also said that in the third quarter the region was the destination for 24 percent of total cold rolled coil exports from China. An equally intense concentration of 40 percent can be observed in products coated with aluminium and zinc, while 28 percent of China's exports of silicon steel sheets and coils and 27 percent of its exports of cold rolled sheets arrived in Latin America. The association highlighted that, while all of these items are produced in the region, the aggressive arrival of these exports in Latin America is a real menace to the regional industry.
