Mexican steelmaker Altos Hornos de Mexico (AHMSA) has welcomed the move of the Mexican government and the nation’s Chamber of the Iron and Steel Industry (CANACERO), which announced this week a series of measures that are expected to help the country’s struggling steel industry.
According to AHMSA, the measures will allow the Mexican steel industry to reformulate its operations, investment plans, as well as to resume different projects that were halted due to the challenging scenario of massive imports from China.
AHMSA, which said it would lay off 4,000 workers, stepped back in its decision after the joint document was released this week. The company said it has suspended the plan to dismiss 4,000 workers, but local media reports warned that the decision is not certain, as AHMSA didn’t completely cancel its “adjustment” plan.
“We’ll be observing how the market reacts, and [we’ll] see if we [will] recover our financial capacity at this moment and reformulate the plans we had,” said Francisco Orduña Mangiola, a spokesperson at AHMSA.
AHMSA labeled the joint decisions as positive for the steel sector, as they will update and equalize the nation’s norms of foreign trade with Mexico’s main export partners, which in turn will benefit all Mexican producers.
“These are the measures we expected. Now we trust a lot that these measures will bring us good results,” Orduña said.
Despite welcoming the move, AHMSA said that the measures were announced late. According to AHMSA, the company’s expectancy for the measures is positive, but AHMSA will wait to see if the measures “work effectively,” it said.