Argentina's national steel association, Acero, reported Wednesday that March raw steel production in Argentina rose 7 percent from February and 6.4 percent over March 2010 to 471,000 metric tons.
March raw steel production brings total production in Q1 to 1.3 million metric tons-a 9.6 percent increase over Q1 2010.
Additionally, Argentinean steelmakers currently operate at about 76 percent of capacity, and according to Indec (Argentina's national statistics institute) industrial output increased 8.8 percent from March 2010.