BEIJING: During the first 9 months of 2015, China shipped 6.3 million tons of finished steel to Latin America, 5% more than the 6 million tons registered during the same period of 2014. Chinese total exports of finished steel continued growing and reached 75.8 million tons between jan/sept 2015, 29% more than in jan/sept 2014.
Latin America accounted for 8.4% of these exports, reducing its participation in 1.9 percentage points y-o-y (10.3%). The most important destinations for Chinese steel were South Korea (that received 9.8 million tons, 13% of the total shipments) and Vietnam (that received 7.2 million tons, 9.5% of the total shipments). Both countries increased their finished steel imports from China 5% and 71% respectively, y-o-y.
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During September 2015, Latin America received 642 thousand tons of finished steel from China, 10% less than August 2015 (712 thousand tons) and 5% more than the volume received in September 2014 (611 thousand tons).
The main destinations for Chinese finished steel in Latin America between Jan/Sep 2015 were Central America (that received 1.1 million tons, 18% share of the regional inflow); Brasil (967 thousand tons and 15% share) and Chile (884 thousand tons and 14% share).
During these nine months, the countries that most increased their imports of Chinese steel (in percentage terms) were Argentina (+315%), Dominican Republic (+147%), Cuba (+92%) and Mexico (+54%).
However, Argentina, Dominican Republic and Cuba, still have a small share of the Latin American imports of Chinese steel (2%, 3% a 2%, respectively). On the other hand, imports of Chinese steel decreased in Brazil (-35%), Peru (-14%), Chile (-7%) and Colombia (-5%) and currently have shares of 15%, 9%, 14% y 8%, respectively.
