Brazilian media BNAmericas reported that Latin American Steel
Association (Alacero) recently estimated that Latin America’s steel
output in 2013 will drop by 1% to 64.9 million tons; the main reason was
the increase of imported steel from China. Latin America takes up 4% of
global steel output.
Benjamin Baptista, an officer of Arcelor Mittal Brazil branch appealed
to local government to crack down on the steel import from China so as
to stimulate the expansion and investment of local steel makers.
“Although the steel output in Latin America hasn’t risen, the demand has
risen somewhat, while the gap between supply and demand is mainly
offset by import, especially import from China”.
Baptista expressed meanwhile that the rate of capacity utilization of
steel makers in Brazil, Mexico and Argentine was around 80%, therefore,
there was still idling capacity to meet the demand increase anytime.
“The price pressure comes from global excessive capacity. Currently, the
global excessive capacity is about 0.5 billion tons per year”.
Baptista said, local government need draft protection measures to
protect local steel industry, and increase the investments in railway,
road and port construction to reduce transport expenses, so that local
steel makers can continue their expansion plans. “The steel transport
fee from MinasGerais to Sao Paulo is even higher than that of China’s
steel”.
“The main problems we are facing now include tax, labor legislation and
lack of infrastructure. Any efforts made by the government to increase
our competitiveness are welcome.” Baptista said.
Baptista predicted that the consumption quantity per capita in Latin
America in 2013 would still be around 130 Kg, “still very low,
stagnant”.
Of three years in the recent four years, Latin America was a net
importer of steel. Latin American Steel Association predicted that Latin
America would import about 17.5 million tons in 2013, while this area’s
steel export was estimated to be 13.3 million tons, a year-on-year drop
of 10%.
