The Minister of Finance, Mario Marcel, asked this Wednesday the group that owns the Huachipato steel company to “get involved” and not “transfer” to the Government all responsibility for the future of the country’s main steel producer, which announced the cessation of its operations. given the impossibility of competing with China.
“Huachipato is a subsidiary within a business group, the CAP group, which is a solvent group (…) I believe that the solution should involve not only the Government, but also the group itself,” Marcel said in an interview with EFE.
“I think it is complex that (the CAP group) completely transfers to the Government the decisions regarding the future of one of its subsidiaries,” insisted the minister, who also urged the mining companies to get involved since they buy “the majority” of the steel. produced by Huachipato and the problem cannot be solved by “a single actor.”
“The mining industry also has some interest in this supply alternative existing. During the Covid-19 crisis, when all transportation from China was stopped, it was Huachipato and other steel companies that provided inputs to mining,” Marcel recalled.
CAP group revenue reached $2,965 million in 2023, representing a year-on-year decrease of 1.4%, while gross profit was $691.4 million, 9.3% less than in 2022, according to data from the conglomerate.
In the last two decades, China has gone from being a large importer of steel to one of the main producers, going from producing 15% of the world’s steel in 2000 to 54% in 2023, according to Alacero, an association that brings together the large Latin American steel companies.
Within hours of the deadline, Siderúrgica Huachipato confirmed that it will appeal to the Anti-Distortion Commission and will insist on surcharges on Chinese steel, higher than those already officially published
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