Prices for Mexican domestic steel beam IPR (ASTM-A6) increased about US$6/mt in the last two weeks to reach US$886/mt ex-mill. Meanwhile, prices for steel beam I (ASTM-A36) jumped US$9/mt to the level of US$868/mt ex-mill.
According to sources, these products still have some positive demand levels, however recent economic indicators could be influential.
As of May there was a lower generation of housing building works: commercial, institutional and service; ships and industrial plants; construction of roads, bridges and the like; works of urbanization and sea, river and underwater; systems for distribution of oil and gas for the treatment works; and distribution and water supply and drainage and mining-related services, such as drilling of oil and gas wells.
Investment in machinery, equipment and construction in the country fell for a third month as a result of insufficient private and public spending on infrastructure and the weakness of the mortgage market in the country.
The National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) reported that gross fixed investment in May, including expenditures for machinery and domestic and imported equipment as well as construction, fell 0.70 percent from the annual rate.