ArcelorMittal too bends under global crisis

The news sent its share price plunging nearly 18 percent by noon in Amsterdam trading. ArcelorMittal shares are now 62 per cent lower than they were at the start of the year. The company posted third-quarter profit of 3.8 billion in the July-September period, up 29 percent from 3 billion a year ago. Sales surged 38 percent to 35.2 billion.

It has benefited from high steel prices earlier this year even though demand is now falling in lucrative core markets in Europe and the United States. Sales in emerging economies 8212; Asia and Latin America 8212; are more resilient, it said.

The production cut of 30 percent is double the 15 percent the company warned of last month. ArcelorMittal will start idling plants this month and next and could not say how long that might last.

8220;Things have worsened in the last three weeks and as a result we8217;ve had to accelerate our production cuts,8221; Chief Financial Office Aditya Mittal told reporters on a conference call. Business and consumer confidence plummeted in Europe and the US last month, signaling slower growth ahead as shoppers reduce spending and companies shed jobs.

ArcelorMittal did not give details of the plants where it will reduce production but French and Belgian workers have said the company told them it will freeze output for at least a month this winter.