Sao Paulo (Platts)--4Dec2012/541 pm EST/2241 GMT
Mexican exports of steel dropped by around 800,000 mt, or 17.4%, during the first nine months of 2012 in comparison with the same period in 2011, Canacero, the country's national steel chamber, said Tuesday. "This number highlights the low participation of the Mexican steel industry in the world market," the chamber said. During the January-September period, Mexico exported 3.8 million mt. Last year, exports were 4.6 million mt during the same period. Canacero expects total exports to reach 5 million mt this year. About 58.1% (2.2 million mt) of the nine-months 2012 figure was sent to the US, 33.1% (1.26 million mt) to other countries within the Americas and 8.8% (334,400 mt) to other nations. "Despite the large number of countries that Mexico has trade agreements with, any situation that arises in the US necessarily impacts the development of national production," said Canacero, adding that this may continue until there is diversification of the Mexican steel export market.--Bruno Martins, bruno_martins@platts.com --Edited by Jason Lindquist, jason_lindquist@platts.com