ArcelorMittal sees gradual pick-up

Chief Executive Lakshmi Mittal said the company had seen the first signs of recovery in July-September,with production set to rise to about 70 per cent of capacity in the fourth quarter.

8220;We should continue to see further gradual improvement through 2010,although the operating environment remains challenging,8221; he said in a statement.

The company8217;s much-watched core profit earnings before interest,tax,depreciation and amortisation or EBITDA totalled 1.59 billion in the third quarter,down 81 per cent year-on-year but up 30 per cent from the second quarter.

The company had previously given a forecast range of 1.4 billion to 1.8 billion. The average figure in a Reuters poll of 12 analysts was 1.67 billion.

For the fourth quarter,ArcelorMittal said it expected EBITDA of 2.0 billion to 2.4 billion.

By then output will have risen,price hikes should have taken effect and lower raw materials prices should have a stronger impact.

ArcelorMittal,with output some three times greater than nearest rival Nippon Steel and nearly 8 per cent of the global market,has said it does not expect markets to normalise in Europe and the United States in 2010.

However,Chinese domestic demand is seen growing by more than 15 per cent.

The World Steel Association forecast this month that global steel consumption would rebound by 9.2 per cent in 2010 after a drop this year of 8.6 per cent,a narrower decline than expected due to Chinese growth.

Nippon Steel is due to report first-half results on Thursday. South Korea8217;s POSCO,the global number four,this month signalled a brighter outlook for the sector on improved global demand.