LONDON (Commodity Online): ArcelorMittal, is putting its India investment plans on hold, at least for the time being. The Luxembourg-based steel company has plans to build two steel plants of 12 million tons each in Jharkhand and Odisha, and one 6 MT plant in Karnataka at a total estimated investment of 1,30,000 crore, according to ET report.
Luxembourg-based steel company, said it is not planning any capital expenditures for steel sector growth investments in 2012, while continuing to invest in mining. The company CEO Lakshmi Mittal said the focus would be on iron ore and coal operations where profitability last year was far higher than for steel.
ArcelorMittal is focusing more on growth in its mining business; Mittal said that the company now describes itself as a steel and mining group, rather than a steelmaker.
The group plans to increase its own iron ore and coking coal production by 10% in 2012, and in the first half of 2012, production is expected to be higher than in H1 2011 in line with those plans. The group's 2012 capex budget is expected at about $4-$4.5 billion, including mining growth plans, it said. That compares to $4.82 billion in 2011, based on a total of company figures for each unit.
ArcelorMittal's sales advanced by 20.4% to $93.97 billion in 2011 as compared to the previous year while its fourth quarter sales increased by 8.4% year-on-year to $22.4 billion.
ArcelorMittal's net profit declined by 22.4% year on year to $2.26 billion in 2011 and net loss of $1 billion compared to a loss of $780 million in the same quarter of 2010.
