* Set to report improvement in Q3 from first half
* Reliant on roaring Chinese demand
* Europe, United States still sluggish
By Philip Blenkinsop
BRUSSELS, Oct 22 (Reuters) - ArcelorMittal is expected to signal a steady improvement of the steel market next Wednesday even though it is seen reporting a fourth consecutive quarterly loss.
The world's largest steelmaker will release third-quarter results on Oct. 28, numbers that should be markedly better than for the wretched first and second quarters, when the company was only running at half capacity.
It is still seen reporting a net loss in the July-September period, albeit of only $0.01 per share.
ArcelorMittal, with output some three times greater than nearest rival Nippon Steel and nearly 8 percent of the global market, is also expected to show the market is clearly split between a sluggish developed world and roaring emerging demand, notably from China.
Chief executive Lakshmi Mittal has said he did not expect markets to normalise in Europe and the United States in 2010 after the near-collapse of key steel markets of construction, machinery and car production.
European steel industry body Eurofer said in a report on Thursday that the EU steel market remained "stuck in slow motion" even after a likely return to growth of the overall EU economy in the third quarter.
However, Chinese domestic demand, which Mittal expects to grow by more than 15 percent, should ensure steady global growth of 3 to 5 percent per year after the crisis.
The World Steel Association forecast earlier this month that global steel consumption will rebound by 9.2 percent in 2010 after a decline this year of 8.6 percent, less acute than earlier expected due to Chinese growth.
China's daily steel production matched the previous month's record in September, according to data released on Thursday. Wolfgang Eder, the head of Austria's Voestalpine said China could damage the delicate stabilisation of the market by ramping up exports.
ArcelorMittal investors will closely watch the company's forecast for the fourth quarter, by when its plants should be working at some 75 percent of capacity, from 66 percent in the third quarter, and price hikes should have taken effect.
Lower raw materials prices should also have a stronger impact in the fourth quarter than the third, although the company will face the cost of restarting blast furnaces.
It is seen forecasting EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) of $2.4 to $2.9 billion in the final quarter.
World number two Nippon Steel is due to report its first-half results next Thursday. South Korea's POSCO, global number four, earlier this month signalled a brighter outlook for the sector on improved global demand. (Editing by Hans Peters)