South Africa's ArcelorMittal reports wider H1 loss

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Africa's largest steelmaker ArcelorMittal South Africa said on Friday its half-year losses widened amid lower international demand and a weak economy in its home market. Its headline loss per share rose to nearly 25 cents per share for the six months ended 30 June from 2 cents a year earlier, the unit of ArcelorMittal said in a filing on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange. "Locally, the economy is nearly at a standstill due to electricity supply constraints, infrastructure development delays and the low spending in the mining sector," the South African steelmaker said in a statement. Sales volumes fell by 7 percent to 2.03 million tonnes, dragged down by a 29 percent drop in export sales due to lower prices, while sales in its home market rose by 2 percent. The company has asked the South African government to protect the domestic steel industry by imposing anti-dumping duties on imports of cheap steel from China. [ID:nL5N0ZS09K] Headline earnings (or loss) per share is the main profit measure in South Africa that excludes one-off items. (Reporting by TJ Strydom; editing by Jason Neely)