Higher sales and less interest outgo helped in reducing steel giant ArcelorMittal's net loss during the first quarter to $205 million. The company also expressed 'cautious optimism' for the rest of the year.
The world's largest steel producer, headed by NRI lakshmi N Mittal, had clocked $ 345 million net loss during the January-March quarter of last year."Today's figures continue to show the improved year- over-year performance of our business driven by recovering steel markets, the expansion of our mining operations and the continued benefits of our focused cost optimisation," Mittal, who is also company's Chairman and CEO, said in a statement.Based on current economic outlook, the company expects global apparent steel consumption to increase by approximately 3-3.5 per cent in 2014.
Apparent steel consumption refers to the sum of net industry shipments within a given country or region, plus its imports and minus its exports.