Alacero, the Latin American steel association, has reported that Latin America received 10 percent of global exports of finished steel from
China during the first eight months of 2013, reaching 3.5 million tons, 27 percent more than in the same period of 2012. In August,
China exported 567,000 mt of finished steel to Latin America, increasing by 65 percent year on year.
According to Alacero, the most important import markets of the region for finished steel from
China in January-August of the current year were Brazil (955,000 mt), Peru (472,000 mt), Chile (445,000 mt) and Central America (417,000 mt). These imports represent 65 percent of the volume that arrived from
China to the region.
During January-August, the countries that increased their finished steel imports from
China the most compared to the same period of 2012 were Cuba (up 91 percent), Ecuador (up 62 percent) Brazil (up 61 percent) and the Dominican Republic (with an increase of 52 percent).