Latin America’s apparent steel consumption is likely to fall in Latin America in 2015, despite some growth in steel consumption in countries like Mexico, Argentina and Colombia.
According to data released this week by Alacero, Latin America’s steel association, at its annual conference held in Buenos Aires, Argentina from November 10-11, apparent steel consumption in the region should fall 3.5 percent in 2015, from a 0.1 percent decline last year, to 71 million mt.
In Brazil, the indicator is expected to decline 12.8 percent in 2015, from an 8.6 percent fall last year. Mexico, Colombia and Argentina are expected to see some improvement, as consumption in those countries is expected to rise 4.8, 1 and 3 percent, respectively.
As for the rest of Latin America, apparent steel consumption should decline 3.4 percent in 2015, from a 2.7 percent decline last year.
CEOs at some of the leading steelmakers in Brazil expect another difficult year for the local steel industry, which was impacted the most by the crisis resulting from an unstable politics along with a strong devaluation of the BRL.
“2016 will be another challenging year,” said Jefferson de Paula, long carbon Americas CEO at ArcelorMittal.
Benjamin Baptista, president at Brazil’s steel institute, IABr, and CEO at ArcelorMittal Brazil, agreed. “2016 will be a difficult year,” he said. “If [elected president] Dilma Rousseff remains in office, we should only see some improvement in 2017-2018.”