The average price of Chinese finished steel in the Latin American import market decreased 6 percent in 2014 to $658/mt, year-on-year, the region’s steel association, Alacero, said on Monday.
According to Alacero, China’s exports of finished steel to the region had lower average prices when compared to exports to other parts of the world, at an average price of $700/mt.
In 2014, China exported 8.3 million mt of finished steel to Latin America, and 76 million mt to other places of the world.
“Almost all Latin American countries received Chinese steel at lower average prices compared to the rest of the world. The only exceptions were Argentina and Venezuela … which receive steel imports at higher prices,” Alacero said.
Lower steel prices from China make imports more advantageous, reducing the competitiveness of the domestic steel industry.
Flat steel imports reached 5.5 million mt and were 16 percent lower than Chinese exports to other regions of the globe, according to Alacero. In Ecuador, for example, flat steel was imported from China at an average price of $593/mt, while in other non-Latin American countries prices were 23 percent higher.