ArcelorMittal South Africa (Amsa) on Thursday put on a brave face in a bid to shore up investor confidence in the loss-making steel major, which reported widening losses in the six months ended June.The company said its turnaround efforts are gaining momentum despite reporting a wider interim loss, pointing to operational improvements and cost reductions while challenging market conditions, high levels of steel imports and a stronger rand weighed on performance.The steelmaker reported a headline loss of R1.49bn, compared with a loss of R1.01bn in the previous comparable period. Revenue fell 30% to R12.04bn, while the earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) loss widened to R409m from R110m.The company has spent the past 18 months cutting costs and restructuring the business, including putting the loss-making long steel operation into care and maintenance. It said these measures, together with procurement savings, reliability improvements and operational changes, had contributed to improving underlying performance.While the company remained loss-making, it said its underlying performance had improved after excluding the impact of the long-steel operation. Quarterly losses fell from R1.08bn in the third quarter of 2025 to R67m in the second quarter of 2026.Market conditions remained challenging, with the prices Amsa received for its steel sales falling 4% in rand terms and imported steel accounting for 47% of South Africa’s steel consumption. The company said existing trade measures had been largely ineffective in limiting import pressure.A stronger rand also weighed on performance, with exchange rate movements having an 11% negative impact, according to the company.The company said crude steel production fell 35% to 837,000 tonnes, largely due to the placement of the long steel operation into care and maintenance. Excluding the effect of the Newcastle Works closure from the previous year’s figures, production was down 5%.Net borrowings increased to R7.94bn from R6.76bn at the end of December after a free cash outflow of R1.19bn in the first half. The company attributed the cash outflow to higher inventory levels in an oversupplied market, the wind-down of long steel operations and the settlement of a legacy supplier financing facility.Auditor EY flagged a material uncertainty over the company’s ability to continue as a going concern, pointing to financial pressures facing the group as it works to implement its recovery plans.Amsa said its cost base remained too high and that further work was needed with Eskom, Transnet, and other operational partners to improve competitiveness. The company also said plans to sell non-core assets remained on hold pending the outcome of the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) transaction, which Amsa hopes will see the state-owned enity inject cash in the business.The IDC last year provided Amsa with R2bn in the form of a credit facility which, among other considerations, requires the parties to agree to its repayment. This was not enough to stave off the closure of Amsa’s long steel business.The importance of the imminent decision by the IDC was stressed by Amsa chair Bonang Mohale and CEO Kobus Verster in their annual letters to shareholders, published in April.The group is also looking to secure tariff relief from Eskom after paying R3.5bn for electricity in the 2025 financial year, which amounts to almost the group’s total wage bill.