While saying that its growth strategy “remains unchanged”, the steelmaker said the financial turbulence was “prompting us to check the order of priority to be assigned to our different growth projects”.

The review comes as many steelmakers have started to review growth plans in the light of steep falls in stockmarkets and a waning of confidence in many industrial sectors. This has happened after five years of strong growth in the industry, driven by a surge in demand in China, and industry consolidation that has given a relatively small number of large players in the industry the power to keep prices high.

Many steel experts believe global steel demand next year will grow by about 2 per cent, less than half the amount Mr Mittal was projecting a few weeks ago.