巴西媒体Bnamericas报告说拉丁美洲钢铁协会 (阿拉克罗) 最近估计拉丁美洲的钢铁产量 2013 会过去 1% 到 64.9 百万吨; 主要原因是从中国进口钢的增加. 拉丁美洲占用 4% 全球钢产量.

本杰明洗礼, 阿塞洛·米塔尔（Arcelor Mittal）巴西分支机构的一名官员呼吁地方政府镇压从中国进口的钢铁，以刺激当地钢铁制造商的扩张和投资. “尽管拉丁美洲的钢铁产量尚未上升, 需求有所增加, 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 百万吨, a year-on-year drop of 10%.