Signs of a Turnaround at Steel Giant ArcelorMittal LONDON - ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steel maker, reported a lower loss than a year earlier, as an improving world economy helped offset the persistent problems in Europe. The company said Thursday that it had a net loss of $193 million in the third quarter, a substantial reduction from the $652 million the company lost in the same period last year. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization - or Ebitda, a metric followed closely in the steel industry - increased by 19 percent to $1.7 billion, and steel shipments rose 6 percent, although revenues declined slightly to $19.6 billion. "It's a better than expected result, and I think the market will find it very encouraging," said Jeff Largey, an analyst at Macquarie in London. "North American business and mining business continue to do very well and more than offset seasonally weak European market," he said by email. The company's shares had risen 6.5 percent to 12.74 euros, or just over $17, in Amsterdam on Thursday afternoon. The weakest area for the Luxembourg-based company continues to be Europe, where it has the most production and employees. The European unit that supplies flat steel to automakers and other customers lost $174 million, but that was an improvement over a $385 million loss a year earlier. The company is trimming its losses by closing some plants, including blast furnaces in Florange in France. But it still lost $26 per metric ton of steel it made in Europe in the quarter. The Americas, where ArcelorMittal is also one of the market leaders, was a healthier region than Europe. Sales in the key flat steel division were up about 2 percent year on year to $4.9 billion while Ebitda rose 68 percent to $547 million. Mining, the main activity in which ArcelorMittal has been investing while steel has been in the doldrums, reported a 35 percent increase in Ebitda to $533 million. One of the distinguishing features of ArcelorMittal is that it has large iron ore and other mining operations, which give the company some protection from fluctuations in the prices of raw materials. "'We believe the bottom of the cycle is behind us," Lakshmi Mittal, the company's chief executive, said in a statement. As economic indicators are improving we are cautiously optimistic about the prospects for 2014. In a telephone interview, Mr. Mittal acknowledged that the first half of the year had been "disappointing." Things are now picking up, he said, noting that Chinese steel consumption was up nearly 7 percent for the first nine months compared with a year earlier,"double what we would expect." And he said that while the Indian market remained in the doldrums, "in Brazil things are getting slightly better." He said demand in the United States in the second half was growing at a rate of 5 to 6 percent, compared with last year's final six months. Demand for steel in Europe, he said, would probably decline by around 2 percent for the full year, compared with a 9 percent fall in 2012. The big questions are whether the European economy is starting to recover enough to begin improving steel makers" outlook, and whether the industry over all has cut enough capacity to address the sharp fall in demand since the onset of the financial crisis. Mr. Mittal said that the company's measures, such as shutting plants, have cut costs in Europe by about $1 billion per year since the first half of 2012. The company is determined to have enough capacity, he said, that "going forward, we should have the flexibility to increase our production when the market improves." He said that 15 of the company's 21 European blast furnaces, which produce molten metal, were now operating. Mr. Largey of Macquarie said before the results were announced that many of ArcelorMittal's markets, including the European auto industry, were at least stabilizing and that the company was "well-positioned to capture market share," given its ample capacity. However, Wolfgang Eder, the chief executive of Voestalpine, a big Austrian steel maker, was more pessimistic. "The problem of overcapacity in Europe is far away from being solved," Mr. Eder told reporters on Wednesday. Mr. Eder, who also heads the European steel association, Eurofer, said three idled European blast furnaces, which he did not identify, had recently been restarted. As soon as there is "an improvement in prices, capacity is added," he said. On Wednesday, Voestalpine had said that its net income for the combined second and third quarters fell about 8 percent from the comparable period a year earlier, to €320 million on revenue of €5.7 billion. But Mr. Eder said he expected an improving economic environment next year. "Clearly it will not be a steep upward trend," he said, "but slow movement for the better."