September 08, 2008

Latin American crude steel output in January jumps by 10.9%

According to the Latin American Iron and Steel Institute, crude steel production in Latin America reached 5.9 million tonnes in January 2008 up by 10.9% YoY over 5.3 million tonnes in January 2007.

The Institute said that Brazil led the charge with 3 million tonnes in January 2008 compared to 2.7 million tonnes in January 2007. January production came to 1.5 million tonnes in Mexico up by 4.5% YoY; 490,300 tonnes in Argentina up by 46% YoY; 423,200 tonnes in Venezuela down by 0.3% YoY and 146,400 tonnes in Chile up by 3.2% YoY

Primary iron output also grew 6.6% from 5.1 million tonnes in January 2007 to 5.5 million tonnes last month and production of hot rolled production in Latin America improved by 35.5% YoY from 4.4 million tonnes in January 2007 to 5.9 million tonnes in January 2008.