Steel Markets
Chrysler Takes ~5 Weeks Downtime at Mexican Van Plant for Retooling
Written by Michael Cowden
January 11, 2022
Chrysler’s van assembly plant in Saltillo, Mexico, will take downtime through Thursday, Feb. 10, for retooling, a company spokeswoman said.
The Saltillo plant makes the Ram ProMaster van and has, like four other Chrysler plants in North America, been down since Monday, Jan. 3.
Assembly plants in Belvidere, Ill.; Brampton, Ontario; Windsor, Ontario; and Toluca, Mexico, are also down. The result: five of Chrysler’s 12 assembly plants in North America are not producing at present.
While the Saltillo plant is down for retooling, the other four plants are taking downtime to “to align production with global sales,” the spokeswoman said.
She declined to clarify when Steel Market Update asked whether that phrase might be a euphemism for weaker-than-forecast demand. But, she added, “The downtime is not related to supply chain issues.”
Chrysler, a subsidiary of European automaker Stellantis, is not the only major automaker producing fewer vehicles this month.
Toyota, as SMU reported last month, continues to expect that it will produce 40,000-50,000 fewer vehicles than initially expected in January because of supply chain challenges.
A rough rule of thumb is that each vehicle contains approximately one ton of steel.
By Michael Cowden, Michael@SteelMarketUpdate.com
Michael Cowden
Read more from Michael CowdenLatest in Steel Markets
GrafTech’s Q2 loss widens in ‘challenging’ business environment
GrafTech cited a “challenging” part of the business cycle as its net loss widened in the second quarter.
CRU: Poor steel margins continue to push down raw material prices
Both iron ore and coking coal prices fell this week because of resistance from buyers. Iron ore prices have continued to fall throughout the past week, following sharp declines in steel prices in China, given no new policy announcement from the ‘Third Plenum’ meeting.
Op-Ed: The myth of the Mexican steel surge
We have heard ominous warnings about a flood of Mexican steel threatening the US market. It's the kind of rhetoric that gets thrown around often with little regard for the facts. The reality is that the Mexican steel surge is simply not happening, and the US steel industry has consistently maintained a significant trade surplus in finished products with Mexico. In 2023 alone, this surplus exceeded $3 billion.
CRU: Demand weakness continues to weigh on global sheet markets
Demand has remained persistently weak across the globe for sheet steel, weighing on prices. US HR coil prices fell the furthest this week as high-volume, low-priced deals were transacted as mills looked to fill order books and competed with one another amid relative demand weakness. Meanwhile, European prices were also down due to low demand […]
Influx of coated products fuels recent import surge
Steel imports fell back in May from April’s recent high but remained elevated compared to the levels seen over the past year. A deeper dive into the data confirms what SMU has been hearing from sources: Coated sheet is driving the recent rise in overall import levels.