A Colombian minister has requested the country to be exempted from the US Section 232 tariffs, which will impose today a 25 percent tariff over foreign steel from all countries except Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, South Korea, and the EU.
Colombia is a minor source of US steel imports, with only 44,657 mt of steel shipped to the US in 2017, primarily HDG and OCTG. As for its South American neighbors, Argentina exports mainly OCTG to the US (192,932 mt in 2017), while Brazil is a major exporter of slab to the US (3,996,331 mt in 2017).
Colombia’s steel exporters to the US include Acesco, Corpacero and Ternium-owned Siderurgica de Caldas.