ArcelorMittal announces cost cuts, job losses

PARIS: ArcelorMittal, the world's leading steelmaker, announced a cost-cutting programme on Wednesday to save 4.0 billion dollars (2.8 billion euros) over five years, and including unspecified job losses.

The plan would involve productivity gains and job cuts via redundancy packages and voluntary retirement, normal departures and rationalisation, it said.

A spokesman told AFP that he had no additional information on the scale of job cuts. The group employs 320,000 people in about 60 countries.

The company, which was meeting investors in London on Wednesday, said that the cuts were intended to raise productivity, reduce energy consumption and lower production costs.