During Investor Day 2014 held in London on Monday, March 10, ArcelorMittal CEO Lakshmi Mittal said that the current political turmoil in the CIS is likely to impact steel demand in the region, with regional demand growth expected to at least be at the lower end of ArcelorMittal's forecast range of 1.5-2.5 percent, and possibly even weaker, as demand contracts in Ukraine.
Media reports quoted Mr. Mittal as saying that the company is operating normally, while ArcelorMittal's Ukrainian steel plant Kryviy Rih is diverting its products to different markets and steel sales to customers in Ukraine will likely be reduced by half.
Mr. Mittal stated that ArcelorMittal's medium-term EBITDA target remains at $150/mt, while its shipments are expected to increase to 95 million mt over the medium term. Mittal added that shipments in 2013 only grew by 0.6 percent year on year due to the contraction in ArcelorMittal's core markets, namely, the US and the EU.
Regarding the outlook for global apparent steel consumption, the ArcelorMittal CEO pointed out that in 2014 its core markets are moving from contraction to growth. According to Mr. Mittal, steel demand in China has been weak at the beginning of 2014 despite rising automobile production and continued growth in infrastructure investments. He went on to say that in China destocking of iron ore has lead to weaker raw material prices and this has also affected steel prices negatively. ArcelorMittal expects global apparent steel consumption to increase by between 3.5 percent and four percent in 2014.
