ArcelorMittal beats core profit view as EU steel import curbs kick in

By Javi West Larrañaga

Nov 5 (Reuters) - ArcelorMittal topped quarterly core profit expectations on Thursday, as the European Union's industry protection measures boosted steel shipments in the region, sending its shares 6% higher in early trading.

The world's second-largest steelmaker reported third-quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of $2.02 billion, exceeding analysts' average forecast of $1.96 billion in an LSEG poll.

While the Iran war has driven up energy and raw material costs, European steel producers' pricing power has improved thanks to increased EU protectionism, including higher tariffs and lower quotas on steel imports and fees on high-emission goods entering the region.

The measures were creating a more balanced and sustainable operating environment for the European steel industry, ArcelorMittal CEO Aditya Mittal said in the earnings statement, adding that the full benefit would be reflected in the results from 2027.

The company said it had brought all its European blast furnaces back into operation and expected flat shipment growth to accelerate in the final quarter of the year, helping second-half deliveries exceed those of the first half.

It estimated that third-quarter steel imports from outside the EU were down 50% from a year ago.

Including Thursday's rise, ArcelorMittal's shares have rallied 80% in the past 12 months, outperforming all EU-listed peers except for Salzgitter.

The EU measures, coupled with increased raw material and energy prices that steelmakers have been passing on to customers, have pushed European hot-rolled coil prices 22% higher since the start of 2026, to €755 a metric ton.

JPMorgan analysts recently forecast European prices would climb to €825 per ton by the end of 2027, while estimating that Asian steel imports would cost between €900 and €1,000 per ton from January.

The company still booked a net loss of $391 million in the quarter, against a profit of $683 million in the previous three months, due to exceptional costs related to the idling of ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih in Ukraine, which shut production in September after four Russian strikes in five weeks.

(Reporting by Javi West Larrañaga in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)