In the last two weeks, the price of Mexican domestic cold rolled coil (CRC) fell US$4/mt to reach US$867 mt ex-mill.
Sources tell SteelOrbis that prices are not expected to vacillate beyond such small amounts from the rest of the year.
Demand, meanwhile, is projected to grow for domestic CRC, as Mexico continues to become one of the product’s most prolific end-users. The total production of light motor vehicles in 2013 was almost 3 million units, of which 2.5 million were exported during the same period. Thus Mexico currently holds an honorable third place (along with Thailand) within the top 25 most competitive economies in the world, said automotive industry sources.
Production costs in Mexico compared to other countries, with reference to 100 percent of production costs in the United States of the same products, are at 91 percent, second only to Indonesia (83 percent) and India (87 percent). China, Mexico’s main competitor, has 96 percent, but many plants in the Asian country are now more expensive to produce than in Mexico, not to mention the of high cost of transportation from Asia to North America and ensuing long delivery times.