Reuters reported that growth in Mexican steel production will probably ease to 3% in 2012 as a US economic slowdown drags down the local economy.

Country's iron and steel industry association known as Canacero expects steel output in 2011 to grow by around 3.6% to 17.3 million tonnes.

Mr Octavio Rangel director of Canacero told Reuters that he expects the pace of economic activity in the United States to ease in the second half of 2011. He said “If there's a slowdown at the end of the year, we're obviously going to suffer as a result.”

Mexico's industry is heavily dependent demand in the United States, as companies send 80% of their exports there.

(Sourced from Reuters)