Business News Americas, citing The Latin American Iron and Steel Institute ILAFA, reported that Latin America's crude steel production in the first quarter fell 40% YoY to 10.1 million tonnes.

1. Mexico's output fell by 48.7% YoY to 2.4 million tonnes

2. Brazil's slipped by 42.1% YoY to 5.0 million tonnes

3. Argentina's declined by 41.7% YoY to 798,100 tonnes

4. Chile's dropped by 43.5% YoY to 246,000 tonnes

5. Paraguay's plummeted by 53.4% YoY to 10,200 tonnes

6. Peru's output fell by 53.4% YoY to 130,100 tonnes

7. Venezuela produced 11.4% more crude steel in the quarter at 1.06 million tonnes.

Primary iron output in the region slipped by 42.6% YoY from 15.8 million tonnes in Q1 of 2008 to 9.07 million tonnes in Q1 of 2009.

Hot rolled production in Latin America was down 39.1% from 14.0Mt in the 2008 period to 8.5Mt this year.

(Sourced from BNAmerica.com)