Chinese finished steel imports into Latin America again showed an increase year-to-date in May, regional steel producers' association Alacero tells Kallanish. One light on the horizon is that import growth into the region from the global steel gargantuan is slowing on the same basis, with May values having reduced both on-month and on-year. The region however remains the second largest global importer of Chinese finished steel.

Finished steel imports from China in May fell significantly by -34% to 540,000 tonnes from 822,000t in April 2015, and decreased by -37% from an import volume of 858,000t in May 2014.

Total Chinese finished steel exports to the world continue to grow and reached 39.5mt in January-May 2015, 30% more than in the same months of 2014, Alacero says. LatAm remains the second most popular destination for Chinese finished steel, behind South Korea, with 9.5% of China’s global exports or 3.8mt having landed in the region in the first five months of 2015.

The most popular Latin American export target for China over January-May 2015 was Brazil with 671,000t of finished steel landing, or 18% of regional flow. This was followed by Central America with 572,000t (15%) and Chile with 526,000t (14%). Alacero defines Central America as Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama, Kallanish notes.

Countries which saw the largest increase in Chinese imports from January to May are Argentina (+420%) Dominican Republic (+192%), Cuba (+155%) and Mexico (+66%). Argentina, Dominican Republic and Cuba, however, hold a share of only 2% each of total Latin America imports from China, Alacero notes. Brazil saw a -24% drop in Chinese imports over the January-May period.

Flat steel represented 62% of the finished steel imported from China to Latin America during Jan-May 2015, reaching 2.3mt. Sheets and coils of other alloy steel made up the biggest part of these with 948,000t. Long product imports were 1.3mt in total with bars (542,000t or 43% of all longs) being the most popular type, Kallanish notes.