Company: MT
Filing Date: 2025-08-01
Form Type: 6-K
Source: 0001243429-25-000067
Chunk: 5

Company: ArcelorMittal
Filing Date: 2025-08-01
Form: 6-K
Chunk 5
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 While it is expected that government stimulus will be reactive against the negative impact of U.S. tariffs in order to support GDP growth in 2025, Chinese overcapacity and high exports are expected to weigh across most industries. Moreover, the Company continues to expect Chinese steel demand to decline in the medium-term, as infrastructure spending has been front-loaded and real estate demand is expected to weaken structurally due to lower levels of rural-urban migration. If the expected decline

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Business overview continued

in demand does not coincide with renewed capacity closures, this could lead to steel exports from China remaining at or above current peak levels and have a negative impact on global steel prices and spreads.

As described in the Company’s 2024 Annual Report, the Company’s results are affected by the various factors impacting the prices as which steel is sold (spot, short-term and long-term contract prices and raw material prices (including iron ore and coal) as well as pricing lags and resulting price-cost effects (which may be positive or negative (e.g., "price-cost squeeze").

The Company’s operating profitability is particularly sensitive to fluctuations in raw material prices. Volatility on steel margins aside, the results of the Company’s Mining segment (which sells externally as well as internally) are directly impacted by iron ore prices. Pricing is generally linked to market price indexes and uses a variety of mechanisms, including current spot prices and average prices over specified periods. Therefore, there may not be a direct correlation between market reference prices and actual selling prices in various regions at a given time. See "Iron ore — Raw materials" below for information about market reference prices in the period.

Economic environment

Over the last several years, the global economy has undergone several negative shocks, starting from the COVID-19 disruption in 2020-21, followed by subsequent high inflation, exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and to curb inflation, a sharp rise in interest rates through 2023, particularly in developed economies. In 2024, the global economy started to stabilize, with GDP growth holding steady at 2.8% as disinflation continued, allowing major central banks to start cutting interest rates from elevated levels. During the first half of 2025, the global economy faced another substantial headwind with increased trade tension and a heightened degree of uncertainty. These factors were especially acute during the second quarter of 2025, as U.S. trade policy turned to more protectionist with the average effective tariff rate