Luxembourg - ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steel producer, said Wednesday that sales over the second quarter of 2009 were less than half of the same period last year.

The Luxembourg-headquartered firm said that sales were down to 11.1 billion euros (15.7 billion dollars), from 24.2 billion in Q2 2008.

Second quarter results were a net loss of 581 million euros, the third quarterly loss the firm has posted in a row.

However the firm said that shipments were up some 6 per cent on the previous quarter, with boss Lakshmi Mittal saying that although trading in 2009 had been some of the most challenging the industry had ever experienced, "in recent weeks we have started to see some initial signs of recovery." (dpa)