Steelmaker ArcelorMittal profit builds on market recovery

PARIS: Global steel giant Arcelor soared in the third quarter thanks to solid market demand as well as strong prices for its products.

Sales jumped by 21.5 percent from the same period last year to $ 17.6 billion ( 15.1 billion up 71.4 percent to $1.2 billion, both beating the consensus of estimates of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

“Favorable market conditions have supported another solid quarterly performance,” chief executive Lakshmi Mittal said in a statement.

He pointed to operating earn the year, which rose by 36 percent from the same period last year to nearly $6.3 billion.

“Operating conditions continue to improve, with key indicators including the ArcelorMittal weighted PMI implying a positive outlook for 2018,” he said, referring to surveys of executives on their business perspectives which are widely used as an indicator for future developments in the markets.

In the third quarter, operating a gain of 1.4 percent from the same period last year but was down nearly 9 percent from the second quarter.

Mittal said he was “pleased with the progress that we are making” but noted that “we operate in a competitive global environment which is characterised by overcapacity and high levels of imports.”

He said the firm needed to push forward with its strategic plan Action 2020, saying it remains a “clear priority”.

That plan, announced last year, aims at squeezing down costs to - ing output.

It targets making an operat 2020, while in the third quarter it dropped to $73, a drop from $ 83 in the second quarter and the same period last year.