Latin America's finished steel usage up 1% in January-October

Alacero, the Latin American steel association, has reported that in the January-October period of this year apparent finished steel use in Latin America and the Caribbean totaled 58.3 million mt, up one percent as compared with the same period of 2013. The highest increases were registered in Mexico, up 2.3 million mt (+14%), in Peru, up 560,000 mt (+24%), in Colombia, up 452,000 mt (+15%) and in the Dominican Republic, up 94,000 mt (+30%), while finished steel consumption in Brazil, Venezuela and Ecuador decreased by 1.35 million mt (-6%), 1.03 million mt (-41%) and 273,000 mt (-16%) respectively, all on year-on-year basis.
 
In the first 10 months of the current year, regional finished steel trade registered an annual deficit of 12.3 million mt, increasing by 14 percent compared to January-October 2013. In the given period, all Latin American countries presented steel trade deficits, led by Mexico with an imbalance of 4 million mt. Other countries that showed significant deficits were Colombia (2 million mt), Peru (1.7 million mt) and Chile (1.2 million mt).
 
On the other hand, Latin American crude steel production amounted to 60.8 million mt in the January-November period of this year, up one percent compared to the same period of 2013. In November alone, crude steel production in the region amounted to 5.7 million mt, up eight percent year on year.
 
Meanwhile, in the first 11 months of this year finished steel production in Latin America and the Caribbean amounted to 51.8 million mt.