Second biggest steelmaker reiterates stable price forecast

[HenryTo]

Like I said before, I think the cycle for commodities has already peaked - at least for the next two to three years anyway.
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Saturday May 7, 5:13 PM

Arcelor reiterates stable steel price forecast

BRUSSELS, May 7 (Reuters) - Arcelor , the world's second biggest steel maker, reiterated its forecast of stable prices for its product for the first three quarters of the year, but left the last quarter somewhat in doubt.
"There was not one (price rise) in the first quarter and there will not be one in the second quarter nor in the third quarter," Chief Executive Guy Dolle said in an interview published by local daily La Libre Belgique on Saturday.

"I do not know what will happen in the fourth quarter but everything will depend on the economic conditions," he said. "I do not exclude a rise in prices but that probability does not seem to me to be very strong."

Steel prices soared last year as China took up stocks of basic materials to fuel its booming economy.

This rise in prices led to a stockpiling of steel by other consumers of the metal.

As a consequence, Arcelor has been forced to cut back on its production of flat carbon steel and long carbon steel.

Arcelor's core profit more than doubled to 1.7 billion euros for the first quarter partly due to these high prices.

But the strong result was seen by analysts as a peak as prices remained stable and Arcelor cut back output in the face of sagging demand.