The figures of the Latin American steel industry during the first five months of the year continue to show weakness versus the same period a year ago. In the period, finished steel consumption decreased 14%, while regional crude steel production and finished steel did in 12% and 8% y-o-y., respectively.
Regional steel imports represent 34% of Latin-American consumption and their participation is still increasing. In January-May 2016, Latin America and the Caribbean produced 23.5 million tons (MT) of crude steel, 12% below the volume recorded in January-May 2015.
During January-May 2016, finished steel consumption in the region reached 26.1 MT, down 14% vs same period 2015. From Latin-American`s total steel consumption, 53% corresponds to flat products (13.9 MT), 45% for long pro-ducts (11.9 MT) and 1% to seamless tubes (332 thousand tons).
During the first five months of 2016, Latin America imported 8.8 MT of finished steel, down 20% vs January-May 2015 (11.1 MT). Latin American exports of the finished steel has reached 3.6 MT, increasing 12% over January-May 2015 (3.2 MT). In January-May 2016, the region recorded a trade deficit of 5.2 MT of finished steel. This imbalance is 33% lower than the one observed in January-May 2015 (7.8 MT). Advance information for June 2016, indicates that crude steel production reached 4.8 MT in this month, 4% less than May 2016 and 10% less than June 2015.
