News from this site In the early morning of September 16, Chile’s largest steel plant, Huachipato Steel Plant, officially shut down, ending 74 years of operations and causing an impact on the local economy.

It is reported that the closure of the steel plant not only directly affected the livelihood of at least 2,700 employees in the plant, but also affected as many as 20,000 indirect jobs closely related to the steel plant's business. Ouachipato Steel admitted in a statement that the decision was "forced" due to its increasingly dire financial situation. Starting from the large-scale export of Asian steel products in 2019, by the first quarter of this year, the steel mill had accumulated losses of more than US$700 million. In fact, its losses in 2023 have already reached US$385.5 million. After entering 2024, the loss momentum has not slowed down at all, and it lost another US$41.8 million in the first quarter. Since March this year, the steel plant has been on the verge of suspending production. This shutdown is undoubtedly a major blow to the local steel industry.

The Huachipato Steel Plant is located in the Talcahuano region, about 500 kilometers south of Santiago, Chile. It has been a leader in the Chilean steel industry since 1950. Its product lines cover grinding rods, wire rods, concrete steel bars and a variety of special steel products, and it is an important supplier in the Chilean long product market.

According to local media reports, Chilean Mining Minister Aurora Williams expressed regret for the closure of the Huachipato steel plant. She said that the closure of the steel plant clearly violated the wishes of the local government and its commitment to workers. , now the government’s focus must shift to solving the unemployment problem caused by the closure of the steel plant.