Argentine crude steel and iron ore production rose year-on-year and on-month in November according to data from the local steel association Cámara Argentina de Acero (CAA), monitored by Kallanish.

In November, domestic public construction activity and the automotive and agro-machinery sectors continued to show a deceleration compared to previous months. Shipments for the oil and gas industry were at a normal rate, the CAA says.

Over January-November, crude steel output was almost 4.80 million tonnes, up 13.2% y-o-y. In November alone, crude steel production was 456,000t. This was 4.8% up on that in the same month of 2017 and 2.2% more compared to October.

Year-to-date hot rolled steel production amounted to almost 4.48mt, up by 7.4% compared to the same period of 2017, CAA data show. November hot rolled steel output fell by -7.8% y-o-y and was -4.2% down on that registered in October, at 382,100t.

Cold rolled flats output was also lower in the first eleven months by -3.1% on-year at 1.16mt. In November alone, cold rolled production was 82,800t, down by -22.7% compared to the same month of 2017, and -6.2% less than in October.

Argentina’s iron ore output was 3.46mt year-to-date end-November, up 12.8% compared to the same period of last year. From this total, 341,500t of ore were produced in November alone. This volume was 4.4% more y-o-y and 2.1% higher month-on-month, CAA confirms.