The negative trend in producer prices for steel complexes in Mexico continues. In September, prices fell 0.4 percent year-over-year, marking 24 consecutive months of decline. The most notable drop in the price of rebar was 6.6 percent in the same period, according to an analysis by SteelOrbis of data from the national statistics agency Inegi.
In September, the Producer Price Index (PPI) excluding oil and with services increased 5.5 percent year-over-year. Prices with oil and with services increased 5.1 percent. Annual general inflation (Consumer Price Index) was 4.6 percent in the same month.
Of the three products that make up the "steel complexes," the most pronounced reduction was in the price of rebar, with a 6.6 percent year-over-year decrease and a 1.8 percent decrease compared to the previous month. In an annual comparison, the price of rebar has been declining for 24 consecutive months.
"Steel sheet" (without a breakdown of sheet type) decreased 0.3 percent compared to the previous year, the sixth consecutive annual decrease.
In contrast, the price of steel slabs registered an increase in prices for the second consecutive month. In September, it increased by 4.6 percent. For the second consecutive time, the negative trend of the last 13 months (since July 2023) is broken.
Beyond the concept of steel complexes, other annual reductions in steel products in prices were steel profiles with 8.9 percent, steel bars with 3.3 percent, wire rod with 2.9 percent, iron and steel wires with 2.5 percent, non-powered hand tools with 2.0 percent, the manufacture of metal structures with 1.3 percent, galvanized sheet metal with 0.7 percent and primary slabs and ferroalloys with a decrease of 0.3 percent.
In contrast, price increases were registered in wire products with an annual increase of 4.5 percent, enameled metal parts increased by 5.9 percent, in the manufacture of light gauge metal containers it increased by 6.2 percent and sheet metal cutting and bending increased by 7.0 percent.