The world’s largest steel maker, ArcelorMittal SA, said yesterday the steel business was starting to recover, even as it posted a loss of US$792,000 for the second quarter, its third consecutive quarterly loss.
CEO Lakshmi Mittal said the company would restart production at some plants to meet “some initial signs” that the steel slump is ending. He warned that full recovery would be slow and progressive.
ArcelorMittal blamed the net loss on US$1.2 billion in charges from writing down steel stocks and paying off workers who took up the company’s voluntary redundancy program. The company made a profit of US$5.8 billion last year.
Revenues more than halved for the three months ending June 30 to US$15.2 billion, down from US$37.8 billion a year ago.
The third quarter should be better, the company said, as shipments rise and costs for key raw materials — iron ore and coal — fall from record highs.
It said the global recession had triggered an “extreme weakness” in steel demand along with a steep fall in prices.
Its main customers — car makers, construction and engineering companies — have slashed output on falling demand from customers facing the sharpest downturn since World War II.
ArcelorMittal plunged into loss for the first time in the last three months of last year as the steel industry slipped rapidly from boom to bust.
The company shuttered plants this winter and spring as steel stocks remained high, laying off thousands of workers temporarily.
Fearing that these closures could become permanent, Belgian and French workers attacked company headquarters during a shareholder meeting in May.
The company is also trying to aggressively reduce a high debt burden that it built up during a rapid expansion program to meet surging demand in recent years. It paid off US$3.8 billion in net debt in the second quarter and had total debt of US$22.9 billion on June 30, it said.
It said its bankers had agreed to let it change a leverage ratio to give more flexibility if the economy worsens.
The company also reported cost savings of US$1.7 billion in the quarter, close to its target of US$2 billion for the year.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2