Mittal Steel Co. NV announced plans to reduce global production by one million tons in the third quarter of 2005. This follows similar reductions in the second quarter.

The company says production cutbacks will be equally split between North American operations and those in Europe and the rest of the World.

Commenting, Mittal Steel Chairman and CEO, Mr. Lakshmi Mittal, said, "As a leading industry player, we are intent on building a sustainable global steel industry that can offer value to all stakeholders throughout the business cycle. It is essential that we act in a responsible and mature manner, and respond accordingly to current market dynamics. The production cutbacks that we have announced today will help to reduce the inventory build up that we currently have and help to restore equilibrium to the global supply and demand equation."

Mittal Steel Co. is the world's largest and most global steel company. The company has operations in fourteen countries, on four continents. Mittal Steel encompasses all aspects of modern steelmaking, to produce a comprehensive portfolio of both flat and long steel products to meet a wide range of customer needs. It serves all the major steel consuming sectors, including automotive, appliance, machinery and construction. For 2004, Mittal Steel had revenues of US$22.2 billion and steel shipments of 42.1 million tons.