During the first three quarters of 2012, Brazil stood up as the main Latin American destination for Chinese finished steel exports. Meanwhile, Mexico continued to be the country that
showed the most important relative growth of Chines imports, compared to same period of 2011.
Due to the observed deceleration of the Brazilian economy during 2012, apparent steel consumption
reached 19.2 million tons and grew just 1% from January to September 2012, compared to same period of the previous year. During the first three quarters of 2012, imports of finished steel products from all over the world grew 3.4% while Brazilian steel products exports fell by 17%, compared to same months of 2011. The appreciation of local currency can be traced as one of the facts that explain these results.
Throughout Jan/Sept 2012, Brazilian imports of Chinese finished products also fell by 25%, versus a year ago.
This decrease is mainly due to the reduced arrival of flat product (-34%). On the other hand, Chinese long products imports experienced significant growth (+65%). As a whole, Brazil imported 649,762tns from China between January and September 2012, about 22% of total steel imports of this Latin American country.
Within long products, rails and railroad accessories represented 59% of the group and grew 289%, compared to the first three quarters of 2011. This fact can probably be explained by the increased demand derived from infrastructure projects.
