In January-August 2016, the total exports of steel from China to the world -including finished (long steel, flat steel and seamless pipes) and steel-derivatives products (wire products and welded tubes) increased 7% versus Jan-Aug 2015, reaching 74.7 million tons (Mt). Of this volume, 69.9 Mt were finished steel and 4.8 Mt were steel-derivatives products.
Latin America accounted for 6.6% of Chinese exports, reducing its participation in 2.5 percentage points versus January-August 2015 (9.1%), standing at third place as China’s preferred destination. China´s main destinations for steel exports are: South Korea (9.7 Mt, 13% of the global total) and Vietnam (8.1 Mt, 10.9% of the total).
During the first eight months of 2016, China shipped 5.0 Mt of steel to Latin America, which 4.4 Mt were finished steel and 545 thousand tons (Kt) were steel-derivatives products. This volume is 22% less than the 6.4 Mt (5.7 Mt of finished products and 695 Kt of steel-derivatives products) recorded in January-August 2015. The main destinations for Chinese steel (finished + steel-derivatives) in Latin American during January-August 2016 were Central America which received 1.2 Mt (25% of the region); Chile, 810 Kt (16%); and Peru, 673 Kt (14%).
48% of the steel (finished and steel-derivate products) imported by Latin America from China during January-August 2016 were flat products, reaching 2.4 Mt. Among these, the most relevant products in terms of volume were hot dip galvanized sheet (637 Kt, 27% share of flat steel imported from China) and other alloyed steel sheets and coils (621 Kt, 26%).
