From ArcelorMittal's headquarters in Luxembourg, the economic impact generated by the illegal 57-day blockade of part of the facilities of its unit in Mexico was updated. The damage extends to the third quarter and the blow to the company's finances doubled.
“I can confirm that. So in terms of the volume, we would expect a similar impact in Q3 and Q2 from the blockade to about 400,000 tons. And therefore the same profitability impact of about $0.1 billion,” Daniel Fairclough, vice president of investor relations, told investors. Accordingly for two quarters (Q2 and Q3) 800,000 mt of sales volumes and $200 million in EBITDA will be lost.
Last week, as SteelOrbis reported, ArcelorMittal's headquarters reported that the blockade of its facilities in Mexico from May 24 to July 19 had an impact on an 11.7 percent or 400,000 mt reduction in steel shipments throughout the company. In addition, it generated a reduction of $185 million in billing and a loss of $100 million in EBITDA.
Initially, ArcelorMittal México reported that production would restart in two weeks. A few days later, the CEO of the unit in Mexico, Víctor Cairo, said in a single interview with a local newspaper that the reactivation of the blast furnace would take two months. With Cairo's words, it will not be until the third week of September when the blast furnace that produces billet for the production of rebar in another of the company's plants in Mexico will be reactivated.
ArcelorMittal México is the largest steel company in the country with a production of 3.9 million metric tons (mt) of raw steel and a production of 4.5 million mt of iron ore in 2023. In addition, it produces rod, wire rod, wire, slab, billet, bars and tubes.
According to the Ministry of Economy, ArcelorMittal México has also been producing rolled steel plates since 2022.