Earnings Call Transcript - TX Q3 2025

Operator, Operator

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for being here. My name is Kelvin, and I will be your conference operator today. I would like to welcome you all to Ternium's Third Quarter 2025 Results Call. I will now hand the call over to Sebastian Marti. Please proceed.

Sebastián Martí, Global IR and Compliance Senior Director

Good morning, and thank you for joining us. My name is Sebastian Marti, and I'm Ternium's Global IR and Compliance Senior Director. Yesterday, we announced our financial results for the third quarter and first 9 months of 2025. This call is meant to provide additional context to that presentation. I'm joined today by Maximo Vedoya, Ternium's Chief Executive Officer; and Pablo Brizzio, the company's Chief Financial Officer, who will discuss Ternium's business environment and performance. After our prepared remarks, we will open up the floor to your questions. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that this conference call contains forward-looking information and that actual results may vary from those expressed or implied. Factors that could affect results are contained in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and on Page 2 in today's webcast presentation. You will also find any reference to non-IFRS financial measures reconciled to the most directly comparable IFRS measures in the press release issued yesterday. With that, I'll turn the call over to Mr. Vedoya.

Maximo Vedoya, CEO

Thank you, Sebastian. Good morning, and thank you all for joining our quarterly conference call. In the third quarter of the year, Ternium continued to improve its performance. We saw an increase in EBITDA, driven mainly by a decrease in cost per ton supported by the continued execution of Ternium's competitiveness plan. Our cash generation remains strong with operating activities contributing over $0.5 billion during the quarter. Additionally, Ternium's Board of Directors declared an interim dividend of $0.90 per ADS, which keeps the payment level the same as last year. Meanwhile, the business environment continues to be marked by uncertainty, largely resulting from the ongoing changes in the U.S. tariff framework. Within this environment, the U.S.-Mexico trade agreement stands out as particularly significant for our business. In recent weeks, we have engaged in dialogue with stakeholders on both sides of the border. This conversation has revealed support for policies that strengthen the USMCA framework and promote deeper regional integration. The Fortress North America concept is gaining traction, highlighting the importance of deeper economic and industrial ties among the USMCA members. As trade negotiations progress, the focus remains on maintaining fair competition, addressing imbalances, and reinforcing rules of origin, all of which are important to ensure the long-term resilience and growth of the industry in the region. Along these lines, the first formal steps have already been taken for the planned USMCA review, with consultations launched to obtain feedback on the agreement from interested parties. In Mexico, uncertainty resulting from U.S. trade policies has had a significant impact on steel demand during 2025. Recognizing the challenges created during this period of trade volatility, the Mexican government is prioritizing efforts to fortify the country's value chain, aiming to promote greater self-sufficiency and resilience against external competitive pressures. These incentives are closely aligned with U.S. priorities. Throughout 2025, the Mexican government has taken a proactive stance by launching initiatives such as Plan Mexico, implementing targeted measures to counter unfair competition from certain Asian countries and imposing tariffs on imports from nations without a trade agreement with Mexico. For example, in September, a proposal was published to increase tariffs on nearly 1,500 categories, including steel and its derivatives for imports originating from countries without a trade agreement. It is expected that tariffs on steel, currently at 25%, and its products, auto parts, engines, and other components will rise to 35%. In the case of light vehicles, the tariff is expected to increase to 50% versus the current 20%. A ruling is expected in November following the approval of the final proposal for the tariff increase. These efforts are primarily aimed at increasing local value addition, promoting more resilient North America supply chains, and reducing reliance on imports from Asia. We strongly support these policies, and they are vital for the region's economic development and for the continuous growth of the steel industry. In Brazil, industrial activity continued to expand even in the face of high interest rates. The overall steel environment remains healthy with expectations of 5% growth in apparent steel demand in 2025. In addition, our ongoing efforts to increase efficiency in our operations in the country are yielding positive results, with continued decreases in cost per ton. However, the Brazilian market continues to face a high level of unfairly traded imports, primarily from China. In the first 9 months of 2025, imports of finished steel products rose by 33% in Brazil as excess production from China flooded international markets. Unlike the United States, Europe, or Mexico, Brazil still lacks effective trade defense mechanisms. It is crucial that ongoing antidumping investigations conclude with the imposition of duties, whether preliminary or final, on relevant products under review to address these challenges and defend the domestic industry. Turning to Argentina, after a period of growth, activity across the steel value chain leveled off due to increased uncertainty leading up to the midterm elections. Now that the elections are behind us, I am optimistic that Argentina may be entering a period of structural reforms, paving the way for significant growth opportunities across steel value chains. This is especially true in the country's most dynamic sectors like agriculture, mining, and oil and gas. Before moving on, I am pleased to share that this quarter, we received a Steelie Award for excellence in sustainability from the World Steel Association. This award recognizes Ternium's Winds of Change project, our first renewable energy initiative in Argentina. The wind farm now provides approximately 90% of our externally sourced electricity in the country, significantly reducing our environmental footprint and delivering considerable cost savings. To sum up, the transformation of the global trade framework has brought significant challenges, but these adjustments are necessary in light of aggressive trade practices by China and other Asian countries. To navigate the evolving global trade environment, we are focused on strengthening our market position through ongoing optimization and cost reductions. This effort ensures Ternium remains resilient, efficient, and able to deliver sustainable value to stakeholders while adapting to change and pursuing growth. Thank you very much for your continued support.

Pablo Brizzio, CFO

Okay. Thanks, Maximo, and thank you, everybody, for joining this conference with us. Let me review our operational and financial performance following the webcast presentation. Beginning on Page 3, adjusted EBITDA increased sequentially in the third quarter, driven by improved margins. Looking ahead, we expect a slight decline in adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter, primarily driven by the usual seasonal slowdown in shipments across all our markets. Adjusted EBITDA margin should remain consistent with the previous quarter as the expected decrease in revenue per ton in Mexico and Argentina is projected to be largely offset by continued reductions in cost per ton. Let's move on to the next slide. Our net result for the third quarter of 2025 was a loss of $270 million. This figure reflects, firstly, a $405 million non-cash loss related to the write-down of deferred tax assets at Usiminas. And secondly, a $32 million loss related to the quarterly update of the value of a provision for ongoing litigation concerning our acquisition of stake in Usiminas. This was driven by interest accrual and by the appreciation of the Brazilian real in the quarter. Without these effects, net income would have been $167 million in the third quarter, and earnings per ADS would have been $0.73. You can also see that compared to the second quarter of 2025, the largest impact was related to the write-down of deferred tax at Usiminas and a $143 million decrease in income tax results, mainly due to lower deferred tax results in the third quarter, our significant gain in the second quarter, driven by the appreciation of the Mexican peso against the U.S. dollar. Let's move to Page 5 to review our steel segment performance. Shipments posted the most increase during the quarter, driven by growth in Mexico and Brazil. This was partially offset by lower volumes in other markets and somewhat in the southern region. In other markets, weaker shipments to the U.S. were partially offset by higher sales volumes in other destinations. Looking forward to the fourth quarter of 2025, the company anticipates a sequential reduction in shipments in Mexico influenced by softer construction activity and the typical year-end seasonality. In Brazil, despite persistent challenges stemming from unfairly traded steel imports, particularly from Asian producers, Usiminas continues to enhance its competitiveness through cost efficiency initiatives and operational improvements. These efforts are expected to result in a more favorable cost per ton compared to the previous quarter. And in Argentina, we are positive about demand growth opportunities throughout the company's value chain. Turning now to Page 6. Cash operating income in the steel segment continued improving, mainly due to a margin increase. Although there was a slight decrease in revenue per ton, this was more than offset by a lower cost per ton as a result of lower prices for raw materials and purchased slabs as well as ongoing efficiency improvements. On the following slide, let's review the performance of our Mining segment. Net sales declined quarter-over-quarter, primarily due to slightly lower iron ore shipments and a decrease in the margin, mostly due to an increase in cost per ton in Las Encinas, one of our Mexican mining operations, as a result of a temporary decrease in production. Looking forward, production levels in Mexico are expected to normalize in the fourth quarter. Let's review now our cash flow and balance sheet performance on Page 8. During the third quarter, we had solid operating cash generation, supported by a further reduction in working capital, largely attributable to lower unit costs in inventories. Capital expenditures peaked in the second quarter and totaled $711 million in the third quarter, reflecting our ongoing progress in developing new facilities at the Pesqueria industrial center in Mexico. Our net cash position continued decreasing in the third quarter, driven by the funding requirements associated with the ongoing expansion, together with a $114 million decrease in the fair value of Argentine securities as of the end of September, which have since then been regained as of yesterday's market prices. Let's now turn to the final slide where we will summarize our performance for the first 9 months of the year. Adjusted EBITDA decreased in the first 9 months of the year, mainly due to lower margins and shipments. The margin reduction was primarily driven by lower steel prices, partially offset by improved cost performance. We had robust cash from operations in the period, boosted by working capital decrease and capital expenditures increase compared to last year as 2025 is a peak year for growth projects in Pesqueria. As a final remark, yesterday, our Board of Directors approved an interim dividend of $0.90 per ADS, unchanged from last year's interim dividend. Together with the $1.80 per ADS paid in May, this brings the total distribution during 2025 to $2.70 per ADS, equivalent to a dividend yield of 7%. This interim dividend will be paid on November 11. With this, I'm concluding my prepared remarks. We are now ready to take any questions that you may have. Operator, please open the floor for the Q&A session.

Operator, Operator

Your first question comes from the line of Carlos De Alba of Morgan Stanley.

Carlos de Alba, Analyst

I have two questions. First, considering the results of the recent mid-term elections in Argentina, what strategic opportunities do you see for improving the ownership structure of the company, particularly with potential stakes in Siderar, Ternium Argentina, or Ternium Mexico?

Maximo Vedoya, CEO

Yes, I believe the election doesn't alter our current projects. We have an opportunity to analyze simplifying our structure, which we are not pursuing at the moment. However, there are developments that can arise not necessarily because of the election. I think the election allows us to move beyond the distractions in the Argentine market. It may lead to structural reforms in Argentina that could enhance the competitiveness of the industry, which is urgently needed. I envision future growth in the market and in Ternium Argentina's competitiveness, which is essential for us. These are the impacts of the election.

Carlos de Alba, Analyst

And then, under what circumstances would you try that initiative that you presented in the past that didn't work to make the structure more efficient?

Maximo Vedoya, CEO

I think it doesn't depend on us. Remember that a good part of the share of Ternium Argentina is in the ANSeS. So that—it doesn't depend on us to do that. I don't know, Pablo, if you want to add anything else to that.

Pablo Brizzio, CFO

Yes. Carlos, you know that—as Maximo mentioned, we have tried in the past to do that. It's also, as he mentioned, nothing that we can do at this moment. But this is a project that continues to be on our mind. So, if there is, in the future, an opportunity to move forward with this, it's something that we will take into consideration. It will require a full analysis on the process and the project, but it's clearly something that we may consider. I think that, first of all, you need to see in order to start thinking about this kind of project, the reforms that the government will try to pass, how these are evolving and the way they are approved in Congress. So, with all of that behind us, probably opportunities could appear to further analyze this project. So, again, a lot of things are moving on in Argentina. We need to see if this evolution is going in the positive direction. And probably after that, there will be a possibility to further analyze this project.

Carlos de Alba, Analyst

Great. And then my second question is related to what would—I mean, I know that you guys are talking to the government in Mexico and in the U.S. The Mexican government is still negotiating with the U.S. government. But what would be Ternium's planned, or action planned if the U.S. keeps the melt and pour conditions for steel using products that are imported into the U.S.

Maximo Vedoya, CEO

Well, we are going to continue with the plan we already put forward. I mean, the new investment was exactly because of this. Remember, we have 2.5 million tons of flat products, not including long products there of melt and pour. And with the new steel shop, we are going to have 2.6 million additional to that. So, we are investing because I think that the melt and pour, in some cases, such as in the automotive industry, is something that is going to stay or it can be increased. So that's why we made those huge investments, Carlos.

Carlos de Alba, Analyst

All right. I understood that right now, it has to be melt and pour in the U.S., not in Mexico that's included…

Maximo Vedoya, CEO

Well, yes, you're right about that. That is not to pay—you’re right, I misunderstood the question. I thought you were talking about the USMCA. I mean, if the negotiation or looking forward, if we are going to have a USMCA, that has to change. The vision or the path we see is that it has to be melt and pour in the region. It cannot be melt and pour only in the U.S. if we have to have a negotiation. You cannot have an agreement where you only have U.S. melt and pour. In the meantime, there are some customers of ours—probably your question also goes through that. There are some customers of ours that are, as you said, well, some, I don’t know, some affected because there are some steel derivative products, you said that if there are melt and pour in the U.S., they have discounting in the tariff they pay. But we are working with each of these customers for each of these products in particular to support their sales so that we don't lose any volume. But this is a temporary thing, I guess.

Operator, Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Rich Emerson of Goldman Sachs.

Unknown Analyst, Analyst

Can you hear me?

Maximo Vedoya, CEO

Yes, Rich.

Unknown Analyst, Analyst

Okay. I have 2 questions. The first one, looking at the 4Q outlook, I'd like to understand a little bit more on, first, the cash cost outlook. You guys mentioned that there are ongoing efficiencies in the operation. But could you please just break this down between the cash cost performance at Usiminas and at Mexico and Argentina? So, looking ahead, you guys expect costs to improve also in the operations in Mexico and Argentina. So this is the first one. And the second one, in terms of prices, I understand that Mexico is undergoing a subdued activity in the construction segment. And prices in Argentina continue to be subdued as well. So, what can you guys share in terms of what you expect on prices for Argentina and Mexico going forward? So this is the second point on the first question. And just another point on CapEx. In this quarter, there was a small decline. So, just trying to understand if you guys still plan to reach the $2.5 billion for this year or indeed we should see lower CapEx for the year, considering that we saw this decline in 3Q?

Maximo Vedoya, CEO

Thank you, Rich. I'll start from the third one and going up. CapEx, yes, we had said that 2Q was the highest of our CapEx. It was around $800 million. This quarter it’s $711 million. Probably in the fourth quarter, the number we are seeing is around $600 million, putting the total CapEx of the year between $2.5 billion and $2.6 billion. For 2026, CapEx will probably be $1.9 billion. So, probably every quarter will be around $500 million. And in 2027, probably will return to $1.1 billion. So, as I said before, the peak of all these CapEx investments, of all this CapEx plan was in the second quarter. That—I hope I answered the third one with that. Second, you're talking about prices. Prices for the fourth quarter are going to have a little bit of a decrease in Mexico and Argentina, but only slightly, and some part of that is because of the mix. Remember, the fourth quarter is usually a low volume quarter, and also the mix changes a little bit. So, prices—when you see our prices in the fourth quarter, could be a little bit low, but not very much. Prices in the North American region are stable, and prices in Mexico have recovered a little bit from the U.S., but we are not seeing any decrease, and probably we are going to start seeing some increases in some of the sectors in Mexico late in the fourth quarter or early in the first quarter.

Pablo Brizzio, CFO

Yes, perfect. Rich, let me try to answer your question by dividing the cash cost from the different operations. But before doing that, in a general view, you have seen that our margin during the third quarter has increased in comparison to the third. That was somewhat practical and something that we announced during our last conference call. And this was due to different things. First of all, of course, there was a reduction in raw materials and purchased slabs, which are very important for the overall cost structure. But also, there was the implementation of our cost reduction plan that is expected to be fully implemented by the end of this year. So, these are the 2 components of why we have been reducing costs. And if you split up between the different markets where we are, you have an increase of margins in Argentina, somewhat in Mexico and in Brazil, taking into consideration numbers that Usiminas presented to the market last week, you have also seen some increase in margin. The expectation for the fourth quarter is to further increase our cost reduction. And if all other things were equal, our margin should increase. But we know what we have said and Maximo has just answered one question for you, where you will see that our average price, both in the Mexican and the Argentine markets will decline a little bit, but we will be able to sustain our margins in the different market. That's why the outlook for the fourth quarter is for sustained EBITDA margin and a small reduction in volumes, and that's where we will see our EBITDA generation. But, all in all, we continue or we expect to continue to have better margins in the different regions where we operate, and that will be clearly reflected in the cash cost.

Operator, Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Alfonso Salazar of Scotiabank.

Alfonso Salazar, Analyst

I have 2 questions. The first one is regarding the outlook for demand in Mexico for 2026. I mean, we know that 2025 was pretty weak. And if you think that there is going to be a recovery in 2026, I would like to know what's going to drive that recovery. And more generally, what is your—the outlook in your view for North America? We know that the situation with tariffs, now with Canada an extra 10%, it's very unclear what's going to happen with tariffs next week and then 1 month from now. But if you can help us to understand, first, how the U.S. has been sourcing all the steel that they need this year so far with the tariffs? And how you think it's going to be once the situation normalizes, let's say, 2 years from now, if we can think of a normalization of the steel trade situation that we are facing today. That would be very helpful. Any comments on that would be very helpful.

Maximo Vedoya, CEO

Alfonso, I will try to make magic and answer the second question. But first, the outlook of Mexico. Yes, demand in Mexico in 2025 is not good, as you said. Last week, I think the Worldsteel disclosed the SRO for the whole world and apparent consumption in Mexico is probably going to be down 10% in Mexico, steel apparent consumption, which is a very, very big number. What we are seeing for 2026 is a recovery in Mexican demand. We'll still put this at 4%. But probably if the infrastructure—I mean, part of that decrease in the apparent consumption in 2025 is due to—well, it's always in a new year from a government, always infrastructure down. Infrastructure is down like 28% to 29% in the first 9 months of the year. So that's a huge number, and it's still intensive. So, this is going to grow next year. Construction will probably start growing again. And the stabilization in the trade between the U.S. and Mexico. I think that's something that is also a driver of improving demand or going back to the demand we have in 2024. So, in the sense for Mexico, we are optimistic that demand is going to recover at least partially in 2026. The outlook for North America, you said what is going to happen in 2 years? Clearly, I mean, today, imports in the U.S. are decreasing. There are still some countries that are paying the tariff of 50% and shipping to the U.S. But in general, imports are decreasing. I think that at least in the region, I am confident. I don't know if confident is the word, but I think that USMCA is going to be renegotiated and in at least trade between the USMCA countries is going to be liberalized. I think that the U.S. has a clear vision that manufacturing and industrialization have to come back to the region. And I think that including Mexico and Canada, but I'm speaking about Mexico. In this region, there's a vision of how to improve industrialization. I think it’s a better outlook for everybody. And everybody, I think, has the same vision. When is this going to happen? It's not clear, but the renegotiation, it's already started. So, I guess that by the mid-part of next year, we are going to have an outlook of where this negotiation goes and how tariffs between the 2 countries start diminishing. That's at least our vision. I hope I also gave some clarity.

Alfonso Salazar, Analyst

Yes. Maybe just a follow-up on what you mentioned. The fact that we already see some bottlenecks for this reshoring of manufacturing, one of them is certainly labor. The second one is energy with data centers consuming so much energy. If you want to make more steel used electric furnaces, that's also going to require a lot of energy.

Maximo Vedoya, CEO

You're right, Alfonso. That's why I think that a vision of a region more than only the U.S. is what is in the best interest of everybody, including the U.S. I think Mexico can be a partner, if it follows the rule of the USMCA, can be a very good partner to help with the vision the U.S. has. And I think that's a common understanding of everybody.

Operator, Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Alex Hacking of Citi.

Alexander Hacking, Analyst

I guess just following up on the trade point. Have any of your auto customers started to rebalance production back to the U.S. and away from Mexico?

Maximo Vedoya, CEO

They still didn't rebalance production. Our discussion with our customers is, how they—I mean, they are sourcing steel from the U.S. They are sourcing steel from us in Mexico, and they are also sourcing steel from some Asian countries, and we are discussing how to—if we are able to source that steel that they are bringing from, let's put Asian countries back to Mexico. And so, we have very good discussions with them trying to make a ramp-up of that sourcing. From a broad point of view, I mean, the U.S. consumes somewhere around 16 million units in light vehicles per year. They produce today 8 million and Mexico exports 2.5 million; 2.3 million, 2.5 million. I mean, I understand that what the Trump administration is trying to accomplish is to increase that 8 million units. And I think that's possible. But I don't think that this is going to be taken into account in Mexico production. Probably it's going to take into account or it's going to gain market share of production in the U.S. against other suppliers because every car that is exported from Mexico to the U.S. at least has between 35 and 45% U.S. content. So, in the interest of everybody, if you're going to produce more in the U.S., you have to substitute imports of cars from outside the region and not from Mexico. So that is the vision I think everybody is looking to. I hope I answered the question, Alex.

Alexander Hacking, Analyst

Yes. No, that's very clear, and it makes sense. I guess a second question would just be, I've seen various news reports about Mexico increasing their own steel tariffs. I guess, what is the current proposal and what will be the timing of implementing any changes?

Maximo Vedoya, CEO

Look, there are several initiatives in Mexico that are following in a sense also what the U.S.—not because the U.S. is asking, I think, but because this is what a clear vision of this new administration. I think the new President before she was even elected and when she was already elected but not in office said that the vision of Plan Mexico was to—increase value-added content in Mexico and in the region. So, there's a lot of initiatives. There's one initiative that I said, I think, in my initial remarks, that there are almost 1,500 products that are ready in Congress to increase tariffs. Those include those of steel and some steel derivatives from 25% to 35%. This should be approved in November. And there are also other initiatives I know they're discussing to try to limit imports whenever it's possible to produce that in the region. That's in the North American region.

Alexander Hacking, Analyst

Okay. And then I guess just one final one, if I may. I mean, I assume that Ternium would generally be in favor of sort of creating Fortress North America for steel, where Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. have steel import policies—tariff policies that are fairly aligned with each other, but then relatively free trade amongst each other. I assume that's something that Ternium would generally be in favor of and would be quite positive for Ternium.

Maximo Vedoya, CEO

Yes. And I have been out talking about that. So, yes, I can say it without any doubt. I think that each country has to have some differences because the production matrix of the countries is different. But I think internally to say that we are in favor of a North American fortress, and we are actively asking for that.

Operator, Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Rafael Barcellos of Bradesco BBI.

Rafael Barcellos, Analyst

So, first question, I would say that over the past few years, you worked to simplify the overall shareholder structure of your subsidiaries, right? So, I just wanted to understand how comfortable you are with the current structure across regions. And the second question, if you could provide an update of the Pesqueria project. I mean, if you can go through the expected start-up CapEx, I mean, after the recent CapEx revision, whether you are now comfortable with your estimate. And given the overall market conditions, if there's any change in your commercial strategy for the project?

Maximo Vedoya, CEO

Thank you, Rafael. I'll start with the second one, Pesqueria. I mean, you know the Pesqueria has several projects. The first one or the first part is the galvanized, the new galvanized line and the new PLTCM, the cold-rolling mill. The galvanized line is going to start the running curve in December; it is on time. We are going to start it in December. And the PLTCM is going to start in January. Remember, these are very complicated lines. So, the ramp-up curve is not very—it's not short, but we are going to start production in December and we are going to start production in January, plus/minus some days. And so—I mean, we are confident of that. The other project is the DRI and the EAF facility. That is going on time. I mean, we have on our budget that it is going to start in the fourth quarter of 2026. If you see the site, I mean, it’s impressive. It’s really worthwhile going to visit the site because it’s clearly amazing and the tower and 140 meters of the DRI facility going direct to the EAF without any—I mean, hot DRI. So, we have a lot of efficiency in energy. But—and today, we have the same budget as we announced. I think it was $2.7 billion. We are within that budget. Of course, still 1 year until we start the production. But so far, it's going very good.

Pablo Brizzio, CFO

Yes. You know that we have been discussing this at length during many conference calls on our idea to simplify the corporate structure. So, clearly, we are not comfortable with the structure that we currently have. We think it would be a plus for Ternium to simplify its corporate structure. But also, you know that it's not a simple proposition. It's not just a decision that from one day to the other we can achieve. So, we need to be very cautious on the message that we pass that clearly, we are comfortable. Clearly, it's something that at some point, we would like to simplify. But the process to do that is not straightforward, and we will analyze, and we will continue to analyze not only from an economic standpoint but also from a formal standpoint how we can achieve that. But again, I guess that we answered this question also from our point of view during this call. It's something that we keep in our short list of things to be done in the future. Nothing that we can do at this specific point, but it's something that we will try at some point to achieve.

Operator, Operator

Your next question will come from the line of J.P. Morgan.

Unknown Analyst, Analyst

So, I would just like to follow up a little bit on the questions that my colleagues did. And the first one is a little bit about your expectations for '26. So, I think there is a magical number of EBITDA per ton that we like always discuss, $150 per ton. And I would just like to understand if this is your expectation for next year. If not, what is the level that you guys have confidence that you might deliver? And what is the premises that you have been considering for this number? So, does this include antidumping structures for Brazil, or is this a base case that we are not going to have anything at Usiminas level? So just to understand a little bit your rationale here.

Maximo Vedoya, CEO

I'll start with the Compactos. As I've mentioned in previous conferences, we don’t need to make a decision on the Compactos until next year, likely in the middle or late part of the year. In the meantime, we are exploring all available alternatives and working on acquiring the necessary environmental permits while analyzing the various project options. There are several alternatives being considered for the Compactos, and we are examining these different possibilities. Additionally, we are undertaking some work in MUSA to extend the life of all the non-Compactos. This gives us extra time for Usiminas and selling the remaining products to the market. We are actively considering various options, plant structures for the Compactos, and different methods of extracting iron ore from the mine. We expect to provide an update by mid-2026.

Pablo Brizzio, CFO

So, you're right that this has been our target. And in fact, we have been above this number for a very long period of time. After the increase of our participation in Usiminas, we mentioned that then you need to sum up both things. And if you take into consideration what Usiminas comment last week in their own conference call, the margin that they presented was 7%. And if you take the margin that I mentioned in answering the previous question of our operations in Argentina and Mexico, we are without Usiminas closer to 12% EBITDA margin. Clearly, it is something that we need to keep working. We already commented that we are expecting to increase our margins marginally during the rest of this year, 2025. And also, Usiminas has mentioned exactly the same. So, of course, we will not arrive at this number during the rest of this year, meaning the fourth quarter of 2025. It will depend on many different things, the possibility of reaching that number during 2026. You mentioned some of them, the tariffs, some reduction of imports in Brazil, improvement. On our side, we are doing a lot of things. We are fully implementing our cost reduction plans to sustain the reduction of our own cost. But in the very end, also it will depend on the scenario on the trade negotiations, the growth in the different markets where we are. It's very difficult for us, especially with uncertainty related to the trade discussions to put a number today to 2026 EBITDA margins. Clearly, we continue to have this as a goal. Clearly, it's something that we will pursue. We are improving. We are entering into 2026 with a margin above 10%. The last one was 11%, and we will continue to work in that direction. So, we are not that far from that goal. Clearly, it is one target that we have, and we will keep working to achieve as much as we can during the rest of 2026.

Operator, Operator

There are no further questions at this time. And with that, I will turn the call back to Ternium's CEO. Please go ahead.

Maximo Vedoya, CEO

Okay. Thank you to all of you for participating in today's call. We really appreciate your insight and encourage you to share any feedback. Have a great day. See you in 3 months.

Operator, Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's call. We thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.