Latin America should focus on regional integration to avoid the dumping of steel and other manufactured products, Latin American industry body Alacero said.
The region will have to avoid excessive Asian exports, which are often priced below domestic supply, despite the expectation of increased imports, Alacero said at an industry event in Buenos Aires, Argentina's capital.
Alacero expects Latin America to increase demand for finished steel in 2025 by 4.3pc from the previous year, compared with a 2.7pc decrease in 2024 from 2023.
The expected hike in demand comes as Latin America struggles with increased imports pressuring domestic supply and weak domestic production. Some Latin American countries have implemented tariff increases and antidumping measures, but countries such as Brazil were not able to contain the gains in imports as they hoped to.
Latin American countries should focus on integrating their production chains through "smarter agreements," steelmaker Ternium's president in Argentina and Argentina's chamber of steel chief Martin Berardi said.
Argentina alone will consume over 33pc more in 2025 than it did in 2024, with products coming mainly from abroad. The country is set to import more on the back of measures taken by its government to ease external purchases.
But the country should be careful about not being the target of dumping by foreign producers, Berardi said.
"We are going to see more imports [in Argentina] — that's inevitable," he added. "But it is normal. The issue is who you negotiate with, how to avoid flooding [volumes] and how to protect key sectors."
