For years, Lakshmi Mittal has been a true believer in the idea that, for steel, everything has changed. As chief executive of ArcelorMittal, he has created the largest steelmaker in the world, with a 10th of global output. Converts have been won in the past year as prices for the metal rocketed in spite of a slowdown. On Wednesday, announcing second quarter results well ahead of expectations, he predicted the good times would last at least another three years.

It is tempting to agree. ArcelorMittal’s numbers, which prompted the company’s shares to jump 8 per cent, followed similarly strong figures from US Steel. North America remains structurally short of steel. With shipping rates high and foreign producers now involved in US consolidation – Russia’s Severstal and Evraz as well as ArcelorMittal – the incentive to disrupt the market with extra supply from overseas is slim.