Argentina's crude steel production in April totaled 278,900 metric tons (mt) and showed a slight increase of 7.7 percent compared to the previous month, yet was 44.3 percent lower than the country's steel production in April of last year, reported Argentine steel association Centro de Industriales Siderúrgicos (CIS).
CIS' report said that Argentina's Q1 crude steel production totaled 1.078 million mt, which represents a 42.3 decrease when compared to production in last year's Q1. Furthermore, iron ore production in April recorded a rather large increase of 40.5 percent compared to March but suffered a decrease of 44.3 percent when compared to the same month of last year. Iron ore production in Q1 reached 802,400 mt and decreased 50.1 percent from last year's Q1.
CIS explained these monthly production hikes as a result of an Argentine company's reactivation of its blast furnaces after the firm idled its production for a period of two months to help the de-stocking process.
Argentine steelmakers continue operating at 50 percent capacity and are still awaiting an increase in the demand, said CIS.
CIS also reported that Argentina's hot rolled coil production in April reached 257,700 mt, increasing 10.1 percent compared to March, but falling 48.3 percent compared to April of last year. Cold rolled coil production in April totaled 78,500 mt, which is a decrease of 22.8 percent from the previous month and a 42.2 percent drop from April of 2008.
CIS also cited a report from the World Steel Association, which states that steel production capacity has been increasing despite the world production decline in 2009. The global steelmaking capacity is expected to reach 1.8 billion mt this year, which would be 650 million mt of capacity over the estimated consumption for this year. CIS sees this situation as a huge threat to producers in developing countries, such as Argentina. Moreover, the organization reported that Latin America went from being the 12th largest destination for China's steel exports, to the fourth during Q1 of 2009. CIS mentioned this increase as one of the reasons why Latin American steel production, as well as investments and employment in the industry, have sharply decreased.