The volume of the commercial flow of the Mexican steel industry decreased 3.2 percent in all of 2022, compared to 2021. There was an increase of 21.2 percent in the export of finished steel products and a decrease of 11.7 percent in the import volume, according to data from the Mexican Chamber of the Iron and Steel Industry (Canacero), reviewed by SteelOrbis.
Last year, the commercial flow was 15.32 million mt. Of that volume, imports contributed 67.5 percent and the remaining 32.5 percent was contributed by exports.
The above data reflects that in terms of foreign trade, for every ton of finished steel products exported from Mexico, 2.1 tons are imported, mainly from the United States (35.4 percent of the total), South Korea (18.0 percent), Japan (12.8 percent) and China (9.2 percent). In 2022, those four countries concentrated 75.4 percent of imports.
The volume of imports of finished steel products decreased 1.37 million mt or 11.7 percent to 10.35 million mt. The most pronounced decreases were in imports of cold-rolled coil (CRC) with 34.8 percent to total 1.17 million mt and in hot-rolled coil (HRC) with a drop of 20.9 percent to total in all 2022 at 1.13 million mt of imports.
Total export of finished products increased 869,000 mt or 21.2 percent to 4.98 million mt. The export of rolled steel plate stood out with an increase of 244 percent to 296,000 mt and CRC with an increase of 144 percent to 312,000 mt.
The main destination of finished Mexican steel products is the United States with 72.3 percent of the total, followed by Colombia (7.6 percent), Guatemala (3.9 percent), Canada (1.8 percent) and Argentina (1.8 percent).