The value of iron ore imports to the Mexican steel market decreased 99.8 percent in May, year-over-year, going from $40.0 million in May of last year to $73,000 in the fifth month of the current year. It is the lowest amount in the last 46 months, according to a SteelOrbis analysis of data from the national statistics agency Inegi.
In the January-May period, $100.0 million were imported, a figure that represented a decrease of 34.0 percent or $52.0 million less compared to the period January-May 2023.
At the beginning of 2023, the integrated steel company Altos Hornos de México (AHMSA) went into paralysis due to insolvency and stopped producing steel and also paralyzed the extraction of iron ore. Furthermore, in the last week of May (from the 24th) an ArcelorMittal mining complex in Mexico was blocked for 57 days by the mining union of Congressman Napoleón Gómez Urrutia.
In the Inegi information, there are no records of the export of iron ore.