The growing import of Chinese steel into Latin America is putting pressure on local markets and industry, which complain of competing on an uneven playing field.
This is due to government subsidies and artificially inflated prices, and has slowed the sector’s growth just as the region faces increased demand for construction materials.
According to Ezequiel Tavernelli, president of the Latin American Steel Association (Alacero), the problem lies in the fact that they are facing “a monster that competes by different rules” and that has “a tangled web of subsidies ranging from the acquisition of raw materials to working capital financing, subsidized interest rates, and very long repayment terms, (even) financing companies that are losing money.”
Ezequiel Tavernelli, director ejecutivo de Alacero, la Asociación Latinoamericana del Acero. Foto:Cortesía
“We are no longer competing companies against companies; we are competing companies against a state, and there is no way to compete against a state,” Tavernelli told EFE. In 2024, according to data from Alacero, global demand for crude steel reached 1.87 billion tons, while China produced 1.005 billion, a difference that resulted in a surplus of 249 million tons of capacity available to be placed in international markets, a volume that exceeds the production needs of several regions of the world.
Source: https://www.portafolio.co/internacional/las-importaciones-de-acero-chino-ponen-en-jaque-al-sector-en-latinoamerica-incluido-colombia-485241