Steel Mills

AHMSA Has Net Loss of $40.3 million in Q3

October 31, 2013

Altos Hornos de Mexico (AHMSA) reported a net loss of 520 million pesos ($40.3 million) in the third quarter of 2013, as compared to a net loss of $26.6 million in third quarter 2012.

Sales were 9.475 million pesos ($735.2 million) on shipment of 886,524 tonnes of steel product, down from sales of $751.1 million a year ago.

AHMSA’s $1.5 billion Phoenix Project continues to progress. The Steckel plate mill with an annual capacity of 1 million tons of steel plate or extended roll came online in the third quarter.

The Phoenix Project, which began in 2006, will increase steel production by 40 percent to 4.5 million tons per year. The project includes a blast furnace, an electric arc furnace, a secondary metallurgy cooker oven, continuous casting machine, plate mill and oxygen plant as well as expansion and modernization of iron ore and coal mining facilities.

A blast furnace with a capacity of 1.5 million tons per year was inaugurated in 2011 and in the first quarter of 2013 an oxygen plant began operations producing 1600 tonnes of oxygen daily. AHMSA anticipates beginning operation of the remaining segments of the project by second quarter of 2014.