SMU Steel Summit: Global Perspectives on Pandemic

The SMU Steel Summit 2020 was off to a strong start on Day 1 covering a wide variety of topics from new capacity to international trade. SMU President John Packard officially opened the conference on Monday leading a panel discussion about the steel industry in Mexico, the Middle East, Turkey and China.

Ternium CEO Maximo Vedoya said the steel industry is improving in Mexico, but not back to pre-COVID levels. Construction was completely shut down in Mexico and private construction continues to be weak. Stringent lockdowns in Columbia and Argentina severely curtailed steel consumption, but Brazil, with looser pandemic measures, was not nearly as affected. USMCA is great news for steel companies in North America, said Vedoya, and will give customers more choice for sourcing steel. Possible new Section 232 tariffs on Mexican steel and aluminum “make no sense,” said Vedoya, adding that Mexican steel is not subsidized, traded unfairly or a threat to U.S. national security. “I think it hurts the U.S. mills more than Mexican mills.”