Latin America saw its exports of steel products to the US grow year-on-year during the first half of 2019. These were also up in July, according to preliminary data issued by the US Census Bureau, monitored by Kallanish. Latin America in this context includes South and Central American countries together with Mexico.

Latin American exports to the US amounted to 4,123,381 tonnes in H1. This volume was almost 6.3% higher on-year, while its value was $2.86 billion.

According to preliminary data, shipments from the region were also higher in July, rising by 60.1% y-o-y and 938,231t more than the volume of 296,044t in June.

Brazil, the leading exporter of steel products to the US from Latin America and the largest worldwide, saw its shipments jump by 29.6% y-o-y in January-June to 2,441,410t. In July alone, the US imported 910,976t of steel products from Brazil, up by 454,184t or 99.4% on-year.

Mexico, the second-largest exporter in Latin America and third-largest globally to the US, shipped 302,696t of steel products in July. This volume was 5.6% higher y-o-y and 26.7% more month-on-month. During January-June, Mexican-origin steel imports into the US amounted to 1,526,636t, down almost -14.4% on the same period in 2018, US Census Bureau data show.