Luxembourg-based steelmaker Ternium S.A., which has most of its operations in Latin America, has reported third-quarter 2020 results that show the firm’s shipments fell compared with the year before, but it managed a 54.6 percent rise in profitability compared with a year earlier.
In the quarter ending Sept. 30, Ternium has reported net income of $173 million, more than 50 percent higher than the year-ago figure of slightly less than $112 million. The firm earned higher profits despite shipping out 6.9 percent less steel by volume in the third quarter of 2020 compared with one year earlier.
Year to date after three quarters, the steelmaker has shipped out 14 percent less steel compared with the first nine months of 2019, demonstrating the impact of both COVID-19 and subsequent restrictions.
Because of losses in the second quarter of 2020, the $197 million earned by Ternium in the first nine months of the year is down 63.5 percent compared with the prior year.
In operations news, Ternium CEO Maximo Vedoya has announced the steelmaker has started producing steel rebar at the plant it is building in Palmar de Varela, Colombia.
In an earnings conference call transcript posted to the Motley Fool website, Vedoya comments, “We also resumed the final commissioning of a greenfield rebar facility in Colombia. In this regard, I am very glad to announce that on Monday [November 16], we produced the first bar out of these new facilities."
Adds Vedoya, “The new mill will enable us to substitute imports of reinforcing bars in Colombia with total capacity equivalent to approximately a third of the market. With this facility, we will be the only producer of rebar in the north of the country.”