Latin America’s crude steel output down in August

Latin America’s crude steel output fell by 1% year-on-year in August, to 5.83 million tonnes, according to regional steel association Alacero.

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Crude steel production in August was the second-highest monthly level registered in 2012, following the 5.94 million tonnes produced in March.

Alacero’s figures for Brazil show that the region’s largest crude steel producer saw its output increase by 4% year-on-year last month, to 3.1 million tonnes.

Argentina’s crude steel production, however, declined by 26% in the same comparison, the association said.

From January to August, Latin American countries produced 44.6 million tonnes of crude steel, down by 3% compared with the corresponding period last year.

Finished steel
Finished steel output in Latin America came to 5.1 million tonnes in August, up by 5% year-on-year.

This growth was due to increased output levels in Brazil and Mexico, whose finished steel production amounted to 2.4 million tonnes and 1.4 million tonnes, respectively.

Latin America’s finished steel production reached 38.18 million tonnes during the first eight months of the year, an increase of 3% compared with January-July 2011, according to Alacero.

Of this total, Brazil produced 17.9 million tonnes of finished steel, while Mexico’s output was 10.7 million tonnes.