Latin America-focused steelmaker Ternium posted a net loss of $783 million for Q3 2023, against a net profit of $730 million in the previous quarter.
Under the same comparative basis, net sales increased by 34 percent to $5.871 billion, while operational profit declined by 28 percent to $527 million.
By volume, shipments of steel products increased by 39 percent to 4.131 million mt, while iron ore shipments increased by 151 percent to 2.176 million mt.
The regional distribution of shipments during the third quarter has Mexico as main player (2.135 million mt), followed by Brazil (957,000 mt), others South America (603,000 mt) and other regions (436,000 mt).
On July 3, 2023, Ternium acquired an additional stake in the Brazilian steel and iron ore producer Usiminas, assuming the control of the company and an economic participation of 23.3 percent, starting to fully consolidate the Usiminas balance sheet and the results of its operations.
The increase in the participation in Usiminas resulted in a $1.1 billion non-cash net loss and a net $171 million reduction in the value of Ternium’s Equity.
For the next quarter, the company expects Mexico´s steel consumption to remain strong, despite a downtrend for prices. For Brazil, expectations are for declining realized steel prices, due to a recent decrease in prices of local steel finished products. For Argentina, Ternium anticipates a decrease in shipments due to seasonality and government restrictions on imports of raw materials.
Controlled by the Techint group, Ternium has production facilities in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala and the US.