Steel imports from China have been hurting Guatemala’s steel industry, according to a report this week from the Latin American steel association, Alacero.
According to Alacero, Guatemala received 328,000 mt of finished steel from China between January and November last year. The volume accounts for almost 37 percent of the country’s total steel consumption within that period, which is 890,000 mt, it said.
From January to November, Guatemalan steel imports from China increased 46 percent, year on year, Alacero said, adding this ‘phenomenon’ of increasing steel imports is common to all Latin America. At the Alacero conference in 2014, in Mexico City, Alacero asked Latin American to cooperate as a region to fight what he called the “Chinese phenomenon”.
Guatemala’s finished steel production from January to November increased 3 percent, year-on-year, while domestic demand rose 4 percent, according to Alacero.
Finished steel production in the country was 512,000 mt in the period, Alacero added.