Arcelor Mittal, the world’s largest steelmaker outside of China, expects a drop in steel consumption of 7 percent in Europe this year, according to the report. It can be compared with an earlier forecast, from May, where a decline of 2-4 percent was outlined.
Operating profit fell to $1.65 billion for the third quarter of the year. This means a profit of 69 percent compared to the corresponding quarter last year.
The decline was unexpectedly deep. Analysts on average had expected a profit of $2.07 billion.
Net income also came in lower than expected, with a race of 79 percent to $993 million, against expectations of $1.31 billion. But the so-called ebitda profit was unexpectedly high, despite a 56 percent drop to $2.66 billion.
Sales were also a positive surprise with a decline of 6 percent to 19 billion. Analysts had expected 17.2 billion.
Steel deliveries during the quarter fell 5.6 percent compared to the previous quarter, down to 13.6 million tons. At the same time, steel production increased by 2.1 percent to 14.9 million tons.
Iron ore deliveries were 6.9 million tons during the quarter and production of iron ore rose 12 percent to 10.6 million tons.