Ternium S.A. (NYSE:TX) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

And we have to, I mean, imports today are still at high demand, even though the increase in the tariff, although we have seen some decrease in September from July and August, there is a big decrease in September. But there’s still some import share that we can gain with the capacity we have. So we are very confident that we can continue gaining this market share in Mexico, and we have room for that. I hope I clarified a little bit your question Gabriel with this.

Gabriel Simões: You did. Thank you.

Pablo Brizzio: Okay, Gabriel, let me – how are you, let me take your second question. Let me mention first of all, that the dividend that was announced is just an interim dividend. And in the last two years, though, you know that [Indiscernible] is meeting needs to approve the final dividend in the last two years. The interim dividend represented one third of the total dividend for the year. So there you have an expectation of the dividend that will be paid on a yearly basis, which as already mentioned, will be around 22% higher than we paid last year. So there you have one reflection of what the company is doing in relationship to capital allocation. So outside the normal usage of cash as the company has and we have already mentioned many times that the expectation of CapEx for next year is around $1.5 billion without including the CapEx of Usiminas.

That we are expecting to see an additional $300 million or around that number for 2024 in Usiminas. So besides that, we are increasing the dividend payment and as we always mentioned, the company is in a position to continue to follow that trend. So basically what we are doing is, first of all, financing the CapEx that the company is having. There is a significant level of CapEx coming in next and the following years to finalize the project in Mexico. And then sustaining and increasing the level of dividend payment. Besides that, we will continue and we are in a position to continue having a very strong financial position. We think it’s important for the years to come in time.

Gabriel Simões: That’s perfect. Thank you very much for the answers.

Pablo Brizzio: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Rodolfo Adriano De Angele. Please go ahead.

Rodolfo De Angele: Hi, good morning. I have a few questions. My first question is, in this scenario that we are seeing, you mentioned that increased steel imports in Brazil, we have been hearing the local industry discussing lobbying for increasing taxation of imports. I wanted to hear your thoughts around that. That’s my first question.

Maximo Vedoya: Yes, Rodolfo, I think it’s something that the Brazilian government has to do. I mean, as I said in my initial remarks, Rodolfo, most of countries U.S., Mexico, Europe, some Asian countries, they are all protecting against unfair trade especially from China. I mean, so if you want to have an industry, which I think is very important in Brazil, you have to have some defense of that industry. It’s impossible today if you don’t have that. So I think it’s very important that the government takes into account, and I’m very supportive of what the local Brazilians are saying. I fully agree with them.

Rodolfo De Angele: Okay. Second question is more about how do you see mining in this environment? Because we saw Chinese steel hurting steel margins for a number of years in the past. And during that period, it was always challenging for the steel makers, but the ones that had some type of backward integration, especially to iron ore, kind of feared, came out a little bit better than the rest. You already have exposure to iron ore. So I just wanted to hear your thoughts on how do you see iron ore overall? And what’s the, we know about the expansion of MUSA, you mentioned that there isn’t a decision yet, but how do you go about it? What are the, and what do you need to see to make a decision to go ahead with that? And then I have a final question after this.

Maximo Vedoya: Okay well, I mean it’s not that we have to take the decision today. We are working and in order to analyze and to go all the steps we have before having to have make a decision. This doesn’t, as I said, this doesn’t, does not mean that we are not working. I mean we are working and the decision has to be made I think, between one and two years, because we are going through from the permission and the environmental permission, we are going through with all the analysis and the quotations and the engineering of the equipment. So we are going through the project, through the project of MUSA, as if the project is going through, but the approval of the project, we have to take it in, I think it’s a little bit more than that one year and a half.

So that’s the only reason why we are not saying a year and a half from now when we have all the engineering, when we do realize what are the different issues of the reserves of the equipment, the final cost of all the engineering, we should make an announcement if we go through or not.

Rodolfo De Angele: Okay, makes sense. My final question is a question I got from an investor and we of course, know about the changes between the control and shareholder group and with Nippon selling out and leaving gradually more room for the Tequint group in Usiminas. The question I got was about Unigal, if there is any discussion eventually about Nippon Steel selling also their stake there to you or to Usiminas itself, anything changes there or not?

Maximo Vedoya: No, no, there has not been. Unigal is still, and I think it will be, 70% Usiminas, 30% Nippon Steel. I don’t think we’re going to change that or there’s any plan to change that. Remember, we also have the same facility in Mexico where we have 51% and Nippon has 49% of that. So, for that particular market for that particular type of line, a galvanized and galvanized line for the automotive industry, we are very comfortable with this. So I don’t see any changes.

Rodolfo De Angele: Okay. Thank you very much.

Maximo Vedoya:

Operator: Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Your next question comes from the line of Carlos de Alba with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

Carlos De Alba: Thank you very much. I just wanted to follow up, Maximo, on the discussion of potential steel imports in Brazil. Thinking about this, what is the level that you believe could be feasible for import tariffs in Brazil? Because I hear you and I hear the Brazilian executives talking about Mexico and the U.S., Canada, 20%, 25%. But none of these countries export to China as much as Brazil does. So how can the Brazilian government go and tell the Chinese, we don’t want your steel, but we want you to take our iron ore and our proteins and our grains? So it’s I think a much more complex discussion than it is for Mexico and the U.S. So, is it realistic that we can get the 20% or is it more likely that we stay maybe at 15% if we’re lucky?