ArcelorMittal SA says difficult trading conditions globally have affected its third-quarter steel production in 2016. SA’s largest steel producer said on Tuesday that its domestic sales were up 3% compared with the third quarter of 2015, but 11% lower than the second quarter of 2016. It said that weak worldwide demand had continued to hurt exports, along with the furnace mini-reline at its export-focused Saldanha plant. "Liquid steel production was 67,000 tonnes, or 6% lower, than in the third quarter of 2015 mainly due to the planned mini-reline at Saldanha, which was started and completed in the third quarter of 2016." The group said the reline had negatively affected production of about 110,000 tonnes. But despite this, overall capacity utilisation remained flat at 73% for the quarter, compared with 72% in the third quarter of 2015. The group said production in the third quarter of 2016 had been further negatively affected by a full electricity outage at its Vanderbijlpark works,...
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