Alacero, the Latin American steel association, has stated that it expects Latin American steel consumption to remain high in the coming months with high levels of production and intra-regional trade, according to the figures for the region’s steel production in August and September, and for its steel consumption in July and August.
According to the statement, in July, the share of intraregional imports had reached 8.4 percent of total imports and in August intraregional imports rose to 8.6 percent. The extra-regional exports, which in July represented 64.6 percent, increased in August to 66.1 percent of the total sold abroad.
In addition, in August, regional consumption grew by 1.6 percent compared to the previous month, while in the first eight months of the year regional consumption increased by 38.7 percent year on year. On the other hand, the fall in the trade deficit was 0.2 percent in August, while in July the trade balance had shown a slight increase in the deficit of 0.4 percent compared to the previous month. In the January-August period this year, the trade deficit was 77.2 percent higher than in the first eight months of 2020.
As for Latin American production, in August this year, the region’s crude steel and rolled steel production increased by 2.3 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively, both compared to July. However, the steel production in the region decreased month on month in September, despite maintaining high production levels.