South American crude steel production grew year-on-year in May, according to the latest World Steel Association (worldsteel) data monitored by Kallanish.

The region's crude steel output totalled 3.53 million tonnes in the fifth month of the year, or 2.1% more over the same period in 2018. During January-May crude steel production amounted to 17.67mt, a decrease of -2.7% over the corresponding five months of last year.

In May, Brazilian crude steel production reached 2.75mt, up by 2.9% y-o-y. The second-largest producer in the region, Argentina, saw its crude steel output slip by -0.7% y-o-y in May to an estimated 435,000t. This figure differs from local steel association Cámara Argentina de Acero (CAA) data. According to CAA, May production was 406,800t, -7.2% lower y-o-y (see related article).

The third-largest steel producer in South America in May was Peru with an estimated output of 110,000t, or 4.6% more y-o-y. Peruvian crude steel production rose by 2% in the first five months to 513,000t, worldsteel data show.

Meanwhile, Chilean five-month production is estimated to have increased by 9.9% y-o-y to 504,000t. The country’s output was 105,000t in May alone, up by 30.7% on the same month in 2018.

Further north, Mexico saw its five-month crude steel production fall -6.3% on-year to 8.14mt. Mexico’s output also slipped by -4.1% on-year in May to 1.67mt, according to worldsteel data.