The U.S. steel industry struggled with weak demand, low prices and high rates of imports over the last few years, but ArcelorMittal said in its annual report that conditions are finally turning around.
ArcelorMittal, one of Northwest Indiana’s largest employers, lost $38.9 million in the United States in the fourth quarter, but said steel demand was growing and prices were recovering. Steel Benchmarker reported that hot-rolled steel prices surged 7.9 percent to $794 per ton earlier this month.
North America is important to ArcelorMittal’s global steel business because of the sheer size of the market. It and Europe together accounted for about 60 percent of ArcelorMittal’s deliveries last year, according to the Luxembourg-based steelmaker’s 2017 annual report.
