With the President and the government changing in Mexico as of October 1, the problems with import permits for steel products to Mexico have intensifies, sources told SteelOrbis.
Since last April, the Mexican government has modified the rules for importing steel products. In June, SteelOrbis published the problems of steel businessmen in the country. “Now the problem is more serious with the rejections of import permits. With the change of government, everything is slower,” commented a steel trader for large multinational companies with operations in Mexico.
Another source, with operations in northern Mexico, said: “All steel imports to Mexico have problems since they changed the rules. The problem has not been resolved since then. Authorizing the permits is an ordeal and the bills for storage costs are very expensive.”
In June, SteelOrbis requested an interview with the head of the Undersecretary of Foreign Trade, Alejandro Encinas, from the spokesperson of the Ministry of Economy. However, there was no response. Now, with the recent change of government, contact has also been sought with the spokespersons of the commercial authority in charge of Luis Rosendo Gutiérrez Romano (undersecretary of Foreign Trade), but there are also no responses so far.
“We are getting worse and the Ministry of Economy is not doing anything to expedite the permits. Now (with the new government), they are flooding our office with rejections and all without foundation,” said another importing source.
“A permit represents many tons of steel. It is the steel that a company must receive to manufacture products. If the import does not arrive on time, there are heavy penalties for the delay,” said one of those affected.
These problems for import, with the most recent public data, reveal that Mexico has stopped importing 565,000 metric tons (mt) of steel, going from 4.85 million mt imports between May and August of last year to 4.28 million mt in the same period this year, indicating a contraction of 11.7 percent.