Mexican National Chamber of Iron and Steel Industry (CANACERO) reported that last year steel imports from countries without trade agreements grew 170 percent.
In its recent report "Steel on figures," Canacero said that "So far in 2013, steel imports of our main trading partner have fallen 13.3 percent," adding that it is necessary to analyze some of the conditions in those countries, which have contributed to certain products having a significant presence in Mexico.
In the first two months of 2013, Ukraine showed the highest growth in imports of steel products to Mexico, increasing from 15.36 million metric tons to 28.34 million metric tons, reflecting an 84.5 percent increase from the same period in 2012; the imports were primarily alloyed flat steel.
For several years, Mexico has faced competition from Ukraine with various steel products, and several of them have been subject to unfair trade investigations, as currently in force in Mexico for hot-rolled steel sheet and plate, among others.
"The conditions that exist in the supply of alloy flat steel in Mexico and strong supply of Ukrainian flat steel are some of the reasons that both in 2012 and in the first two months of 2013, imports from Ukraine have grown, still with the advantages offered by other manufacturers of the same nations with which our country has signed trade agreements such as Germany, Japan and Canada," said the report.