Chilean steel producer Siderurgica Huachipato (CSH), controlled by the CAP group, posted sales of $147.3 million for the first quarter of 2022, 2.5 percent less than in the same period of 2021.
According to the company, the decline reflects a 30.8 percent reduction of the volume sold, due to production problems during the post-revamping ramp-up process of its Blast Furnace #2 in January.
The reduced production was partially compensated by an increased average unit price of the product sold, $1,033.20/mt, against $720.90/mt in Q1 2021.
Despite the higher unit price, CSH suffered a negative gross margin of $6.0 million, a negative EBITDA of $7.9 million and a net loss of $14.4 million in Q1 2022.
The steel volume sold by CSH in Q1 2022 is estimated at 140,000 mt.
Meanwhile, the CAP group, which controls CSH and the iron ore miner CSP, among other companies in the steel production chain, reported a consolidated net profit of $136.5 million for Q1 2022.