Latin America’s finished steel consumption in period of the January-February 2015 reached 11.8 million mt, 8 percent up year-on-year, according to data released on Monday by the region’s steel association, Alacero. The increase was attributed to an rise in the product’s imports, which represented 37 percent of the region’s total demand in the period.
Peru increased its finished steel consumption in the first two months of the year by 95 percent (a 464,000 mt increase in terms of volume), while Mexico and Colombia saw their domestic demand increase by 12 and 13 percent, respectively.
On the other hand, Brazilian consumption of finished steel fell 4 percent year-on-year for the period, to 181,000 mt.