According to a report released by Latin American steel association Alacero, imports of steel products including long and flat products and seamless tubes to Latin America from China totaled 952,000 metric tons in the first quarter of this year, rising nine percent compared to the same period of the previous year. The report indicates that, South America continues to be the second most important destination for rolled steel from China, following South Korea, after leaving behind the European Union since October 2012.
According to the report, the traditional destinations such as Brazil could begin to give ground against the growth of new ones such as Venezuela or Colombia.The countries that showed the highest increases in steel product imports from China in the first quarter were Venezuela, up 113 percent, Colombia with a rise of 76 percent, and the Dominican Republic with an increase of 252 percent, while Brazil, Mexico, Cuba and Argentina showed a decrease in their imports from China, all year on year. However, in the first quarter the main destinations for Chinese steel imports continued to be Brazil with 160,000 mt, Chile with 154,000 mt, and Peru with 148,000 mt which accounted for 48 percent of the country's imported finished steel.
In the first quarter of 2013, Chinese imports amounted to 21 percent of Brazil's finished steel imports from all over the world. However, in Brazil the two percent decrease in steel consumption in the first quarter brought about a drop in finished steel imports. Brazil's imports from all over the world fell 18 percent, while those from China decreased more markedly by 39 percent, in the period in question.
Venezuela, on the contrary, almost doubled its imports of finished steel from China in the first quarter of 2013 compared to the same period last year, reaching 109,000 mt. Venezuelan production continues to fall and local demand is increasingly supplied by imports.
Alacero noted that the rise of China as a supplier of finished steel in several countries is a worrying phenomenon. The entry of these materials affects intra-regional trade and erodes Latin America's industrialization project, a cornerstone for the sustainability of the region.