Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, has announced its financial results for the third quarter and the first nine months of the current year.
In the third quarter this year, ArcelorMittal posted a net loss of $261 million, as compared to a net loss in the second quarter of $559 million. The company’s sales revenues in the given period this year increased by 20.8 percent to $13.26 billion as compared with $10.97 billion for the second quarter. The company registered an EBITDA of $901 million in the third quarter, up 27.4 percent quarter on quarter, beating expectations.
“The third quarter marked an improved operating performance for the group with steel markets recovering gradually from the very challenging second quarter after the ending of lockdowns. All steel segments saw improved demand with Brazil, South Africa, Kazakhstan and Ukraine showing a particularly encouraging profitability improvement. Our mining segment also delivered a strong performance taking advantage of the higher iron ore price environment and outperforming production targets,” Lakshmi N. Mittal, ArcelorMittal chairman and CEO, said.
In the first nine months, ArcelorMittal posted a net loss of $1.94 billion, as compared to a net loss in the first nine months of 2019 of $572 million. The company’s sales revenues in the first nine months this year decreased by 29 percent to $39.08 billion as compared to the first nine months of the previous year. ArcelorMittal registered an EBITDA of $2.57 billion in the given period, down 39.8 percent year on year.
ArcelorMittal’s crude steel production increased by 19.4 percent to 17.2 million mt in the third quarter this year, while its iron ore production increased by 9.6 percent to 14.8 million mt, both quarter on quarter, primarily due to higher production at ArcelorMittal Mines Canada after recovering from the impact of the pandemic in April this year. The company’s crude steel production declined by 24.8 percent to 52.7 million mt in the first nine months of the current year, while its iron ore production increased by 0.9 percent year on year to 42.7 million mt.
The company’s iron ore shipments in the third quarter totaled 9.8 million mt, up by 7.5 percent compared to the second quarter, primarily driven by higher shipments in ArcelorMittal Mines Canada. Following the better-than-expected third quarter results, the company has revised its previous guidance and now expects iron ore shipments in the current financial year to be broadly stable as compared to the decline of five percent in 2019.
The European segment’s crude steel production was heavily impacted by lockdown measures. Nevertheless, demand and activity levels have gradually improved, as lockdowns eased through the second quarter and into the third quarter, particularly with automotive and manufacturing restarts. As a result, the company resumed some steelmaking capacity in France, Spain and Germany.
ArcelorMittal also said that it has begun to restart hot idled capacity as market demand improves on a region by region basis. Nevertheless, as concerns around second wave impacts persist, the company said it maintains its flexibility to quickly adapt production as conditions evolve.