Latin America's finished steel production in May was down five percent year on year to 4.52 million mt, according to data released by Alacero, the Latin American steel association.
In the first five months of this year, Latin America's finished steel production fell by two percent to 22.9 million mt, year on year.
According to Alacero, Brazil accounted for 44 percent of the region's total finished steel output, producing 10.1 million mt of finished steel in the first five months of the year. Mexico ranked second with a 7.3 million mt output, which represents 32 percent of the region's total production.
According to Alacero, in January- May period, Peru recorded the highest increase by ten percent and Colombia and Ecuador increased their finished steel production by eight percent, while Argentina saw its output fall 11 percent, year-on-year.
Latin America's finished steel consumption in the first five months reached 29.5 million mt, up two percent, year-on-year. According to Alacero, Mexico increased its finished steel consumption by an increase of 11 percent (1 million mt), followed by Peru with an increase of 12 percent (140,000 mt) and by Chile with an increase of nine percent (94,000 mt). On the other hand, Brazil saw its finished steel consumption decrease by eight percent, year-on-year. Likewise, Argentina's domestic finished steel consumption also reduced by seven percent.