According with the last "Steel on figures" report from Mexico's National Chamber of Iron and Steel Industry (CANACERO), at the beginning of 2013, the national economic environment has had some changes from the previous year-end, when the Global Indicator of Economic Activity (IGAE) showed a decrease of 0.96 percent. For the month of February this year, the report showed an IGAE recovery of 0.19 percent.
Further, the cumulative index of manufacturing production volume grew by 2.9 percent in the first two months of the current year compared to the same period last year, whereas domestic steel production increased four percent in the same period.
In contrast, the volatility of steel demand has been affected mainly by the 0.9 percent decline in the rate of construction activity, while the automotive sector's total production has increased 9.8 percent. "Consequently, the steel consumption in the period January-February decreased 4.6 percent over the the same period in 2012 and totaled 3.7 million metric tons," the report said.
During the first two months of 2013, steel imports retreated 13.5 percent and exports grew 34.4 percent; the deficit of the trade balance decreased 44.7 percent in terms of volume, which translated into value of about US$366.4 million more than collected in the same period of 2012.