Chile’s CAP group has decided to suspend operations indefinitely at its Huachipato Steel Company (CSH) rolling plant in the southern Biobío region due to a surge of Chinese imports.
In April, the Chilean government imposed anti-dumping tariffs on two steel products from China, including steel bars, but the company deemed the measure insufficient, as the tariffs are set to expire in September. It reported $700m in accumulated losses since 2019 through the first quarter of this year.
The finance ministry imposed a provisional anti-dumping duty of 24.9% on steel bars in April. However, ‘the steel industry’s structure and the market’s response did not allow the duty to be transferred to the price, making continuity unsustainable,’ CSH chairman Julio Bertrand said in a statement.
CSH will suspend coke production, the operation of blast furnaces, steelmaking and continuous casting, and rolling of long steel products gradually through September, CAP said in a statement filed with regulator CMF.
“The impact will be very strong due to the loss of jobs for thousands of direct and indirect company employees, affecting various productive and technological chains linked to the plant, both at the regional and national level.”
Álvaro Ananías, head of Biobío business chamber
“The impact will be very strong due to the loss of jobs for thousands of direct and indirect company employees, affecting various productive and technological chains linked to the plant, both at the regional and national level,” Álvaro Ananías, head of Biobío business chamber, told local media.
CSH will maintain its non-steel businesses such as the extraction and sale of limestone, and port and logistics activities.