In the first ten months of this year, China’s overall finished steel exports amounted to 90.7 million mt, up one percent, with 6.3 million metric tons of this volume arriving in Latin America, down 21 percent, both on year-on-year basis, according to Alacero, the Latin American steel association. Accordingly, in the given period Latin America’s share in China’s finished steel exports decreased from 8.8 percent to 6.9 percent year on year. In October alone, Latin America's finished steel imports from China decreased by 21.6 percent month on month to 570,000 mt, down 28.2 percent compared to October last year.
In the January-October period of this year, China's main finished steel export destinations in Latin America were Central America which received 1.57 million mt, equal to a 25 percent share of China's total finished steel exports to Latin America, Chile with 1.01 million mt equal to a 16 percent share, and Peru with 805,000 mt amounting to a 13 percent share.
Meanwhile, in the same period, Latin America received 3.1 million mt of flat steel and 2.2 million mt of long steel from China.