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Ternium Records Skinnier Q4 Profits, Predicts Better '23

Written by Michael Cowden

February 15, 2023

Ternium recorded narrower profits in the fourth quarter on lower steel prices and higher costs.

The Luxembourg-based steelmaker, which operates primarily in Latin America, said it expected results to improve in 2023, echoing the comments of its competitors in their recent earnings releases.

Ternium Q4 2022 earns box imageTernium’s earnings financial results are in the table to the left. The company shipped 3.3 million short tons (3 million metric) tons in the fourth quarter, up 2% from the third quarter and up 7% from the fourth quarter of 2021.

Ternium said it shipped nearly 2.1 million short tons (1.9 million metric tons) in Mexico in the fourth quarter, its best shipping quarter ever in that market. The gains were driven by restocking and by market share gains.

The company said that 2022 started out strong but that prices fell and costs rose in the second half of the year. It expects those trends to “gradually reverse … over the next few quarters,” according to commentary released with fourth-quarter and full-year 2022 earnings data on Tuesday, Feb. 14.

Ternium predicted better times in the first half of 2023, in particular in Mexico, thanks to recovering steel prices and continued restocking.

The company also sees better industrial demand in Mexico this year. It expects that trend to be amplified by new business resulting from “nearshoring” of manufacturing capacity to North America.

By Michael Cowden, michael@steelmarketupdate.com

Michael Cowden

Michael Cowden is managing editor for Steel Market Update. Cowden has covered the steel industry since 2007. He has since 2014 specialized in flat-rolled steel but has previously reported on steel long products, steel pipe and tube as well as aluminum. Before joining SMU, Cowden held reporting jobs at Fastmarkets AMM in Chicago - where he was involved in launching AMM's daily hot-rolled coil index, the Associated Press in Pittsburgh, and the Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh. He has also worked as a copy editor and in marketing at the University of Chicago Press. Cowden has a BA in English from the University of Chicago and an MSJ journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Contact him at michael@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7872.

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