Alacero, the Latin American steel association, has reported that in the first quarter of this year finished steel imports from China to Latin America rose by 95 percent year on year to an all-time quarterly record of 1.9 million m metric tons. Latin America received 11 percent of global exports of finished steel from China in the given period, which were up 31 percent year on year to 16.5 million metric tons.
In the first quarter this year, Brazil was the main destination in Latin America for Chinese finished steel, receiving 522,694 metric tons, up 226 percent year on year. Brazil was followed by Chile and Central America, receiving 272,261 metric tons and 224,288 metric tons respectively, with the Chinese finished steel export volume to Central America up 115 percent year on year. The other markets which saw increases in their imports of Chinese finished steel during the given period were Paraguay (up 233 percent), Argentina (up 174 percent), and Mexico (up 166 percent).
During the first quarter of the current year, flat steel accounted for the greatest share of finished steel products exported from China to Latin America, with a total of 1.2 million tons, including 445,194 metric tons of sheet and other alloy steel coils, 287,009 metric tons of cold rolled coils, respectively representing 24 percent and 15 percent of total finished steel imports from China. In the given period, the volume of Chinese long product exports to the region amounted to 499,637 million metric tons, including 259,848 metric tons of wire rod and 183,862 metric tons of bars. Also, 134,066 metric tons of seamless tubes were imported from China to Latin America in the period in question.
