The loss contrasts with a $92 million profit in the similar period of 2012. Sales for the first quarter of 2013 were down 13 percent year on year, to $19.8 billion.

There were some signs that the company, which relies on demand from heavy industries like automobile manufacturing and construction, may be reaching the bottom of a several-year slide. While steel shipments in the first quarter were down about 6 percent year on year at 20.9 million metric tons, they rose almost 5 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2012.

Similarly, while sales were down year on year in the first quarter, they were up a modest 2 percent from the last quarter of 2012.

Thomas O’Hara, an analyst at Citigroup, said that the company’s reported Ebitda, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization — the standard earnings measure in the steel industry — was “a clear beat” of analysts’ expectations by about $200 million.

But ArcelorMittal still looks like it has a long way to go before it returns to the high profitability it enjoyed before the onset of the global financial crisis.

“There is a glut of steel supply globally,” said Jeff Largey, an analyst at Macquarie in London. “That is going to prevent a company like ArcelorMittal from making the type of profits it did in its heyday.”

ArcelorMittal continues to whittle away at the heavy debt load it built up during an acquisition spree before the onset of the world financial crisis. The company, which is based in Luxembourg, cut its net debt by $3.8 billion to $18 billion in the quarter largely through a January offering of $4 billion in shares and convertible subordinated notes.

“We have significantly reduced our net debt and the steps we have taken to focus production on our more competitive assets are beginning to yield results,” Lakshmi N. Mittal, the company’s chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.

In Europe, where ArcelorMittal employs more than 90,000 people, the company managed to reduce its losses at the key unit that produces flat steel for auto makers and other customers. The unit posted a $59 million operating loss in the first quarter, compared to a loss of $283 million a year earlier and of $2.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2012, when the company wrote down the value of some of its European businesses. A $210 million gain from selling carbon emissions credits helped limit the bleeding.

Steel production at the unit was up slightly from the previous year, but the average price per ton fell by 3 percent to $831. ArcelorMittal said it lost $9 per ton on average on the European flat steel unit.

Responding to weak demand, the company has closed operations in Europe, especially at Liège in Belgium and Florange in France, leading to tension with governments and unions. The French government last year threatened to nationalize the Florange site. ArcelorMittal said that although it was closing the blast furnaces at Florange, it has begun a new production line there for modern, lightweight automotive steel with the trademark Usibor.

Even in mining, where Mr. Mittal is focusing most of his investment these days, the results were not stellar. Operating income of $286 million was down 19 percent compared with the previous year, although it was up 54 percent compared with the last quarter of 2012.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/11/business/global/11iht-arcelor11.html?partner=rss&emc=rss