Latin American steel producers association Alacero says that the average price of Chinese rolled steel imports into the region was 7% higher than that to the rest of the world between January-September 2015. The volume of such imports grew by 5% year-on year during the same period while the average price/tonne fell -16%. 

In a press release monitored by Kallanish, Alacero says that Latin America in the first nine months of 2015 received 6.3 million tons of rolled steel from China at a value of $3.569 billion.

Average price per ton reached $562, or 7% higher than the [average] price of $527/ton registered for the rest of the world excluding Latam, Alacero says.

Several Latin American destinations received finished steel from China at prices below the world average (without Latam). These were Central America, the Dominican Republic, Peru and Colombia, Alacero says.

Central America (with average recorded import prices of $449/ton, -15% lower than the ROW average), and the Dominican Republic (average price of $474/ton, -10% below ROW) were the most affected destinations.

Flat products were the major import group by volume and accounted for 59% of China’s finished steel imports to the region in the first nine months of 2015. Long products accounted for 37%, Alacero confirms. The average price for China imported flats into the region was $580/ton against a ROW without Latam average price of $594/ton.

Long products import prices from China were also higher than the ROW average Chinese longs import prices, Alacero confirms. At an average of $478/ton into Latin America, the mean longs price was 18% higher than the average Chinese ROW (excluding Latam) export price of $406/ton. Central America, the largest importer of long steel in the region (626,000 tons), recorded a mean price for these imports of $/375/ton, -8% lower than for the rest of the world.